DDR5 nightmare – Memory prices continue to skyrocket

DDR5 memory kits now cost almost 4x more than they did in September

DDR5 memory prices continue to rise rapidly, with a generic 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 kit now costing nearly 4x as much as it did in September. Over the past week, a 32GB kit of Crucial Pro DDR5-6000 memory has increased in price by 38.9%. From yesterday, the price has risen by 8.2%.

If you thought that DDR5’s price increases are over, I have bad news. It’s getting worse. What was an £79 memory kit in September is now £314. That’s for a kit that’s expected to arrive between February 2nd and May 4th. In September, the same kit would have arrived within days.

DDR5 memory supply is expected to get tighter as we enter 2026. That means that further price increases could be on the horizon.

DDR5 memory pricing won’t return to normal in 2026

DDR5 memory prices aren’t expected to decrease anytime soon. In fact, the DRAM shortage is expected to get worse in the short term. This will increase prices for most electronics and force device makers to produce inferior products with less DRAM to reduce costs. For DIY PC builders, RAM prices have made full PC builds and upgrades prohibitively expensive. The same will be true for pre-built systems soon.

Sadly, dropping consumer demand has done nothing lower DRAM prices. Simply put, the high demand for DRAM comes from AI superscalers, not the consumer PC market. Unless something disrupts the rapid rollout of AI datacenters, DRAM prices will not decrease anytime soon. That’s bad news for consumers, as everyone will need to contend with high DRAM prices as AI firms hoard the world’s DRAM supply.

You can join the discussion about DDR5’s ongoing price increases on the OC3D Forums.