DDR5 memory costs double as DRAM prices surge by 171.8% year over year

DDR5 memory prices are soaring with serious shortages on the way that could last for at least four years, leaving consumers with no alternatives.

DDR5 memory costs double as DRAM prices surge by 171.8% year over year
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TL;DR: DRAM contract prices surged 171.8% year-over-year in Q3 2025, driven by high demand from AI, cloud, and data centers amid supply shortages. DDR5 memory costs have doubled, with Korean manufacturers out of stock. Experts predict supply constraints lasting up to four years, impacting PC upgrades and system memory prices.

According to a new report from the Commercial Times (CTEE), DRAM contract prices increased by a massive 171.8% year-over-year in Q3 2025. The outlet notes that this increase has surpassed the rise of gold, with Tom's Hardware confirming that the flow-on effect is already in place, as evidenced by the price of 32GB of Corsair's Vengeance DDR5 memory doubling on Newegg since July.

DDR5 memory costs double as DRAM prices surge by 171.8% year over year 1
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A $183 versus $91 price difference for system memory is a significant price hike, and it all comes down to supply not being able to keep up with the insatiable demand from the cloud-based AI and data center market. This news also follows our report from a few weeks ago, in which ADATA Chairman Chen Lebai said we were on the cusp of a historic shortage of DRAM, SSDs, and HDDs.

At the time, he noted that we would begin to see the effects of this as we head into 2026, with Phison's CEO adding that the shortages could last up to a decade. Foundries all over are struggling to keep up with demand, and client-focused customers like Corsair are now directly competing with AI and cloud companies for capacity. AI and cloud-based companies are buying up as much capacity as they can.

According to this new report from CTEE, Korean memory manufacturers are reportedly not even providing quotes for memory and are "completely out of stock" when it comes to DDR5 and DRAM hardware. Even for those able to obtain stock, 16GB DDR5 memory contract pricing averaged around $7 to $8 as recently as September, with that pricing now at $13, representing a 60% increase in the span of a month.

Part of the problem is a shift in manufacturing to advanced AI processes, in addition to data centers and cloud-based systems updating their memory and storage to the latest DDR5 and PCIe Gen5 technologies. This means that older DRAM technology, like DDR4, now costs more than DDR5. Although Phison's prediction of a ten-year shortage sits on the high end, industry experts cited by this new report state that DRAM supply constraints are expected to continue for four years.

Basically, if you're planning on building a new PC or upgrading your system's memory or flash-based storage, there's no time like the present. By the sound of it, these shortages and prices are only going to make things worse for everyday consumers.