PC DRAM prices hit record as AI chip demand devours supply

The insatiable demand for memory chips to power artificial intelligence infrastructure is starving the consumer PC market of supply, sending prices for commodity DRAM to record highs and forcing shoppers to pay more for less computing power.

The average contract price for commodity PC DRAM (DDR4 8Gb) rose 4.17% month-on-month to $25 in August, according to market research firm TrendForce — roughly 8.6 times its level when tracking began in 2016. Prices have now climbed for five consecutive months since April, and TrendForce raised its forecast for third-quarter PC DRAM contract price increases to 18%–23%, up from an initial projection of 15%–20%. In August negotiations, some suppliers signed contracts at prices 23%–28% higher, indicating they still hold the upper hand.sedaily

A Two-Tier Memory Economy

The root cause is a structural reallocation of manufacturing capacity. High-bandwidth memory, or HBM, the specialized DRAM that AI accelerators depend on, consumes far more silicon wafers per chip than conventional memory. As Samsung, SK Hynix ↗ 0.77%, and Micron ↘ 2.64% prioritize server DRAM and HBM production to meet AI infrastructure spending, capacity for legacy PC memory has shrunk.consumeraffairs+1

Samsung has now committed roughly 70% of its memory production capacity to long-term supply agreements extending through 2031, with Microsoft ↘ 1.24%, Google Alphabet Inc. ↘ 1.01%, and Nvidia ↘ 1.51% as its primary customers, according to Seoul Economic Daily. Under those deals, a 36GB HBM3E stack sells for $500–$700, compared with around $2,100 on the open spot market — a four-to-five-fold gap that illustrates how deeply the market has split.gagadget+1

Consumers Pay the Price

Gartner estimates that combined DRAM and SSD prices will surge about 130% by the end of 2026 compared with 2025, pushing average PC prices roughly 17% higher. The firm has warned that the sub-$500 PC segment could effectively disappear by 2028 if current trends hold.crn+2

The impact is already visible. HP ↗ 1.12% recently reported higher PC revenue despite selling fewer units, with elevated memory costs lifting prices per machine. Retail DDR5 memory kits tracked by 3DCenter sat at 486% of their July 2025 baseline as of August, another monthly record. Gartner forecasts worldwide PC shipments will fall 10.4% this year, as consumers extend the useful life of their machines by about 20%.consumeraffairs+1

No Quick Fix

Industry leaders see no near-term relief. Micron's CEO said in June that the shortage is expected to last through 2027, with only gradual improvement by 2028. TrendForce expects PC DRAM negotiated prices to rise slightly again in September, while NAND flash trends diverge — older single-level cell products surged more than 20% in August even as mainstream multi-level cell pricing slowed sharply.sedaily+1

"Memory market price trajectories will diverge by product for the time being," TrendForce said.sedaily