RAM

Micron says that the DRAM memory shortages will NOT be improving before 2028, even with billions of dollars being invested right now. I had a chat with one of my industry sources on the floors of CES 2026 who told me the DRAM crisis would be here until 2031... which is even worse.

In an exclusive chat with our friends at Wccftech, Micron's VP of Marketing, Mobile and Client Business Unit, Christopher Moore, talked about the DRAM shortage. The chat with Moore centered on how much Micron is expanding its production capacity, and what impact this will have on consumers and the AI segment in the future.

Moore said that Micron's semiconductor fab expansion plans won't have any meaningful effects until 2028, with the buildout and customer certifications needing a lot of time, and that AI customers require perfection in terms of technology and yield rates, meaning setting up new fabs has become a much more extensive (and much more expensive) process.

Chinese chip maker Innosilicon has announced it has provided its domestic customers with its new LPDDR6/5X memory controller IP.

Innosilicon's new LPDDR6/5X PHY + IP Controller combo has been designed using an advanced FinFET process technology, allowing for low-power operation, high bandwidth, and low latency in a multi-packaged controller with multiple other core advantages.

The company says that its expertise with other DRAM technologies including GDDR6, GDDR6X, GDDR7, HBM3E, and even HBM4, allowed Innosilicon to develop a robust LPDDR6/5X solution for the mass market.

CES 2026 has officially wrapped up, and after spending a week walking around the Las Vegas Convention Center, and ducking in and out of numerous casinos for private meetings with companies, I have gathered my thoughts on what we can expect out of the upcoming year in terms of new technology, road bumps, and what to get excited about.

The whole week of meetings involved being introduced to new products, but every conversation was plagued by conversations about memory pricing, which is undoubtedly going to be a hurdle consumers will be hit by in 2026. For those who don't know, DRAM pricing is skyrocketing due to AI companies gobbling up the limited supply.

As a result, DRAM has become such a sought-after component that it's causing the pricing of products that require even small amounts of DRAM to increase significantly. For example, Dell's XPS 14, the company's entry-level laptop, has increased its price from last year's model at $1,699 to $2,050 for the latest generation.

DDR5 memory prices have gotten so out of control that a 256GB DDR5 memory module in China costs $5700, and that just 100 modules would buy you a housing unit in Shanghai.

The South China Morning Post reports that China's secondary semiconductor market is seeing a "sharp run-up" in memory chip prices as global supply tightens, with vendors saying that the rally has an interesting hurdle ahead: the prices are much higher, but consumers are disappearing.

Cai Zhaojie, a merchant who sells electronic components at Huaqiangbei, told SCMP: "We're looking at high asking prices, but no buyers". Merchants at Huaqiangbei reported huge increases in memory chips since late 2025, with DDR5 being one of the most in-demand items.

There's been no hotter topic in the PC sphere of late than the rocketing cost of RAM - although other components have been hit with price hikes, notably storage, and also GPUs to an extent - but an AMD exec is trying to put a brave face on things in the face of these pricing pressures.

Still, some consumers may not appreciate the advice from Rahul Tikoo, AMD's SVP & GM of its Client Business Unit, who was interviewed by Tom's Hardware at CES 2026.

The tech site asked Tikoo how AMD is reacting to the steep increase in the cost of DRAM and storage, and how it could affect Team Red this year, given predictions of falling PC sales as a result of these hikes.

Patriot Memory showed off a bunch of its new products at CES 2026, and another one that caught my eye was the new Viper Elite 5 Ultra DDR5 memory, tuned for Intel Core Ultra CPU platforms.

If you're building a new Intel-based system in the near future and need a set of tuned DDR5 RAM for it, Patriot has the goods with its new Viper Elite 5 Ultra DDR5 memory. The company has specifically designed it for the Intel Core Ultra platform, optimized for next-generation Intel architectures.

Intel is reportedly natively supporting DDR5-8000 memory with its next-gen Nova Lake-S desktop CPUs later this year, moving over to the new LGA 1954 socket. Patriot has positioned itself as ready for when that happens with its Viper Elite 5 Ultra DDR5 coming in up to 8000 MT/s and up to 96GB capacities.

Patriot Memory had a few interesting new products at CES 2026 this year, with its next-gen Viper Steel 5 DDR5 memory, offering up to huge 128GB capacities and up to 8600 MT/s speeds, without breaking the bank.

Patriot's next-gen Viper Steel 5 DDR5 memory will come in 32GB, 48GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities, with speeds ranging from 6000, 6400, 7200, 8000, and 8600 MT/s. Patriot is positioning the Viper Steel 5 DDR5 memory with a balance of performance, capacity, and clean industrial design.

With speeds of up to 8600 MT/s and capacities of up to 128GB, Patriot's new Viper Steel 5 memory is designed for high-performance systems that are after scalability, reliability, and broad platform compatibility. Patriot Memory had plenty more on display at CES 2026 including its new Viper Elite 5 Ultra DDR5, designed specifically for Intel Core Ultra platforms, optimized for next-gen Intel CPUs.

I don't think the RAM scams will slow down, with a Redditor purchasing a Corsair Vengeance DDR5 memory kit from Amazon but received DDR4 sticks that had scam DDR5 stickers on top. Check it out:

Redditor u/Leading-Growth-8361 has received some "fake" RAM and posted the pictures on Reddit, he said that he purchased a Corsair Vengeance DDR5 kit (two sticks) from Amazon, but noticed that the heatsink casing on the modules was loose. He continued building his PC, but discovered the RAM wouldn't fit on his motherboard... that's because they weren't DDR5 sticks, but DDR4 sticks.

DDR4 modules have the cutout a little out from the middle of the goldfinger, with the user saying that both of the sticks he received look to be the same. That's when he decided to detach the heatsink and discovered an "unknown kind of RAM".

DRAM suppliers are truly the new Santa Claus as they pick and choose who they're providing chips to, with HBM being a "black hole" to DRAM production capacity says the chairman of Etron.

Etron is a famous Taiwanese IC company that specializes in DRAM and SoC design, with its chairman, Lu Chao-Chun, who has said that DRAM giants Samsung and SK hynix are the new "Santa Claus". He added that memory customers are now "grateful" for even getting supply allocated, which is one of the reasons he calls Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron the new "Santa Claus".

Etron's chairman says that one of the main reasons the DRAM supply chain has been completely disrupted is from a few years ago, where DRAM manufacturers weren't worried about increasing production capacity, as demand was at a new all-time low because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SK hynix has announced that its new 256GB DDR5 RDIMM server memory modules have been approved by Intel for its new Xeon 6 platform.

In a new press release, SK hynix said its new high-capacity 256GB DDR5 server memory modules based on 1b 32Gb have been verified for compatibility with Intel's next-gen Xeon 6 platform. The new registered memory (RDIMM) is a buffered module type of RAM used in servers and workstations, with testing and validation completed at Intel's Advanced Data Center Development Laboratory in the US.

SK hynix says that servers using its new 32Gb based 256GB RDIMM memory module will enjoy 16% more inference performance versus its 128GB modules on 32Gb DRAM, as well as up to 18% more power efficiency versus existing 256GB RDIMMs based on its 1a 16Gb DRAM modules, using a design built around a single 32Gb DRAM chip.

If you're a PC gamer that plays the latest games on enthusiast-grade hardware, then you've no doubt come across G.SKILL's lineup of DDR4 and DDR5 memory kits over the years. With a wide range of stylish kits, the company is also best known for offering some of the most OC-friendly memory options on the market, with its Trident Z5 DDR5 memory being used by the world's best overclockers to set new records.

As a company known predominantly for its memory products, the current DRAM crisis has already led to exponential price increases for DDR5 memory kits, with reports from a wide range of sources, including leading memory manufacturers, indicating that 2026 will see prices continue to rise as supply becomes increasingly scarce.

And with that, G.SKILL has released a statement for its fans and the broader PC gaming community, attempting to answer the question: Why has G.SKILL DRAM memory prices increased so much recently (since 2025 Q4)?

I didn't think we'd be at the point of DDR5 RAM scams, but here we are: someone purchased an ADATA XPG DDR5 memory kit from Amazon, sealed... but inside, they were counterfeit DDR2 memory sticks.

The folks over at VideoCardz had a reader tell them they purchased the last 4 units of ADATA XPG Caster 32GB DDR5-6400 CL40 memory from Amazon Spain, with three of the kits arriving first and then the fourth a few days later. The tracking on the shipment showed they were coming from Ireland, with one of the kits resold, and another installed and working normally.

However, things changed when the user opened up the third kit, with the box still wrapped in plastic and looking like a regular DDR5 memory kit from the outside. However, inside of the package were older DDR and DDR2 memory modules with counterfeit stickers that resembled a DDR5 heatsink label, as well as a metal plate that was most likely placed there to fake the expected weight of the package.

Sitting down with Hardware Unboxed in a new long-form video interview, Sapphire's PR Manager, Edward Crisler, talked about a wide range of topics related to graphics cards. Sapphire, after all, is one of AMD's key AIB partners for Radeon GPUs, and one of the key components of a modern graphics card is VRAM. And amid the current memory and DRAM crisis, we've already heard that GPU prices for Radeon cards are set to increase further throughout 2026.

With several industry insiders and analysts predicting that the DRAM crisis will last until 2028 and that the situation for consumer-facing tech like PCs, laptops, smartphones, and other gear like GPUs is pretty dire, Sapphire's Edward Crisler has a different take. A more optimistic one than we've been hearing of late.

First, he acknowledges that there's a "lot of uncertainty taking place in the market" right now, and that current shortages are affecting DDR5 memory kit pricing and leading to panic buying for all PC gaming hardware - GPUs included. Edward Crisler adds that this "uncertainty" will "hurt gamers for six months." After that? Well, he believes that within the next six to eight months "the market will start to stabilize."

SK hynix is expecting DRAM supply issues (and high prices, and probably even higher price than now) through until 2028, lining up with other reports suggesting we'll be in pain for the next 2-3 years when it comes to RAM and SSDs.

In a new post on X by user @BullsLab who shared some screenshots of a purported internal analysis by SK hynix, the South Korean memory leader projects that growth for the commodity DRAM will be constrained until at least 2028... but not for HBM and SOCAMM memory modules.

This is because SK hynix has been busy shifting its focus to fulfill the demand of AI servers, where there are masses of profits to be had, and that the possibility of any decent growth in the production capacity for the consumer market remains low.

Dell will be increasing the price of its laptops and PC systems on December 17, because of the ongoing DRAM shortages.

In a new report from Business Insider, Dell reportedly told its staff in an internal message on December 9 that it will be hiking the price of its systems starting on December 17.

There is an internal list of the upcoming price changes sent to staff, with price hikes for Dell's commercial business -- sales to corporate clients, not individual customers -- but Dell's commercial business accounts for around 85% of its annual revenue in the Client Solutions Group (CSG), the division that sells Dell laptops and PCs, according to its latest annual results.

Framework has just announced it will be increasing its DDR5 RAM upgrade prices by 50% in a new blog post with its Framework Laptop DIY Edition RAM upgrades in the near future.

The company explained the price increases in a new blog post, saying that they've been forced to do this as there are "substantially higher costs we are facing from suppliers and distributors".

Framework says that the new pricing "remains below" what's available in the open market, and that they won't be changing the pricing on any existing orders, and they're not updating the pricing on their pre-built laptops or Framework Desktop which come with RAM, adding that it makes the 128GB RAM configuration of the Framework Desktop a "bargain".

Framework has added to the collective misery around RAM price increases as the firm just announced a major hike in the cost of DDR5 memory for its DIY notebook.

As VideoCardz noticed, the DDR5 memory supplied with the Framework Laptop DIY Edition is now 50% pricier, due to the "substantially higher costs we are facing from suppliers and distributors" the company notes, stressing that the new prices are still below the levels seen on the open market.

Those who've already pre-ordered won't have the cost of their machine changed, as you would hope, but any new orders going forward will be substantially more expensive if you want to pile on the system RAM.

In the unfolding reality that is our world, where 64GB of DDR5 memory costs more than a PS5 console, Asgard has just revealed two high-capacity 192GB and 256GB DDR5 memory kits.

The Chinese memory manufacturer unveiled its latest high-capacity DDR5 memory kits for mainstream users and gamers, with the 256GB DDR5-6000 (4 x 64GB sticks) memory kit coming in at $2000, but the company quickly updated the price in real-time to $2400... making the new 256GB of Asgard Valkyrie Thor DDR5-6000 memory cost more than a GeForce RTX 5090... if you can believe it.

Asgard's new 192GB and 256GB kits of memory come in 6000 MT/s speeds, and sold on Chinese retailer JD, with the 192GB DDR5-6000 (4 x 48GB sticks) costing 8599 yuan (around $1216 USD or so), while the 256GB kit costs $2400. Both of the new 192GB and 256GB DDR5-6000 memory kits from Asgard are using SK hynix M-die with 6000 MT/s memory speeds and CL28-36-36-72 timings for the Thor kit and CL32-45-45-90 for the Valkyrie.

Samsung is reportedly shifting its focus on DRAM production with reports that the company is scaling down its HBM modules for AI GPUs, to DDR5 modules because of the insanely high prices of DDR5 RAM right now.

In a new report from DigiTimes picked up by analyst @Jukan on X, we're hearing that Samsung's new internal strategy in response to intensified HBM market competition, is reallocating DRAM production capacity to DDR5 RDIMM memory modules, which will free up around 80,000 DRAM wafers per month, making significantly more profit.

Samsung has been struggling against HBM competitors SK hynix (mostly) and US-based Micron, which just closed its consumer RAM and SSD business -- Crucial -- down. Samsung's new HBM3E has passed NVIDIA's strict certifications, but the company has reportedly been cutting prices of its HBM in attempt to increase its HBM market share against SK hynix and Micron.

RAM prices aren't slowing down, with skyrocketing costs seeing things like a 256GB kit of DDR4 memory now retailing for over $3000... with RAM shortages here to stay until 2028, and high prices for DDR5 and DDR4 throughout 2026 and 2027.

If you thought there would be a magical fix for the DRAM shortages and price increases, you're out of luck... this is like a triple-storm all at once. DDR5 and DDR4 memory shortages will likely stay until at least Q4 2027 (two years from now), so don't expect cheap RAM prices until 2028 most likely.

Why is this happening? AI, we can all blame AI. AI is gobbling up all of the DRAM and NAND that it can get, where just a couple of days ago we had Micron dive out of the consumer SSD and RAM business with the closure of its Crucial brand, as the company goes all-in with AI. This leaves South Korean memory manufacturers SK hynix and Samsung to provide all of the DRAM and NAND for both AI and consumer products.