RAM Shortage: Why Prices Are Breaking Records

The Role of RAM in the 21st Century

Random access memory (DRAM, RAM) is a critical component in virtually every modern device—from smartphones and laptops to servers and data centers. It handles temporary storage of data that the processor works with directly. System performance, application response times, and operational stability all depend on memory capacity and speed.

In 2025, the market faced a serious shortage that triggered a sharp price surge: RAM is being snapped up instantly, and manufacturers physically can't scale up supply fast enough. As a result, mainstream DDR4 and DDR5 modules for PCs and laptops have increased several-fold in just six months, while LPDDR memory for smartphones has also risen significantly in cost.

Why Prices Are Rising: An Industry Insider's View

The reasons behind the current situation were explained to Argument Media by Petr Gorbey, director of the computer peripherals department at Marvel-Distributsia.

According to him, in March 2025 the average global market price for 8GB DDR4 stood at around $1.35. By April it had climbed 22%, and by August it was up 50% month-over-month. Over the six-month period from March to October, prices increased 4.6-fold to reach $6.30—the highest level since January 2019.

The main factor, Gorbey emphasizes, has been the contraction in DRAM supply: major manufacturers have redirected their capacity away from consumer products toward server memory for AI data centers. Additional pressure came from import tariffs on DRAM components from South Korea, imposed in the second half of 2025 by U.S. President Donald Trump.

"The shortage is affecting all DRAM manufacturers right now—both market leaders and second-tier companies. To cope with the scarcity, distributors are spreading orders across different suppliers and placing long-term advance orders with manufacturers, trying to lock in volumes and prices," the expert explains.

The Russian market, entirely dependent on imports, is mirroring this trend: rising global prices have almost immediately led to higher RAM costs at retail and distributor levels.

At the same time, the industry is discussing another possible cause of the shortage—coordinated production cuts of flash memory (NAND) and DRAM chips by the largest manufacturers: Samsung, SK hynix, Kioxia, and Micron, which control roughly 80% of global output. There's a view that these companies are deliberately constraining supply to maintain high prices, especially against the backdrop of record demand from data centers aggressively expanding capacity for AI workloads.

What rising prices mean for buyers and manufacturers

Rising prices and fears of further increases have sparked a sharp surge in retail sales. According to Wildberries & Russ press service, in October this year, sales of RAM modules in physical units grew 58% compared to June. Meanwhile, demand for processors increased 125%, motherboards by 110%, and graphics cards by 132%. These figures reflect not just isolated interest in a single component, but a systematic drive by users to upgrade their entire PC "before it's too late."

The rising cost of memory is already affecting other component categories. International consulting firm Bain and Co., for instance, warns of a potential shortage of hard disk drives (HDD) for data storage. HDDs are widely used in data centers and are preferred by major companies like Microsoft and Google. However, due to HDD capacity constraints, these companies have begun shifting to solid-state drives (SSD)—a different type of storage device.

At the same time, SSD drives are key components in consumer electronics. As a result, this market is also experiencing shortages, leading to price increases. For example, reports emerged that one of the leading manufacturers—Transcend—has suspended deliveries of SSDs, memory cards, and other products due to acute shortages (the company has not received components since October).

The memory shortage is also putting severe pressure on the graphics card market. According to reports, AMD already raised prices on graphics processors in October and is planning another round of price increases in 2026. Analysts expect other manufacturers to follow suit: rising memory costs make price adjustments inevitable.

At the same time, there's a strategic shift in NVIDIA's tactics—the tech giant has begun using LPDDR memory extensively in its server platforms, which is the foundation for most smartphones worldwide. This has sharply increased competition and prices in the market: for instance, Xiaomi has already announced price increases for its 2026 devices due to rising component costs.

The future of the memory market

At this point, analysts don't expect a quick resolution to the situation. According to forecasts from Counterpoint Research, DRAM prices could rise another 30% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and an additional 20% by mid-2026. TrendForce expects increased production of high-performance memory (HBM) and DDR5, but even with ramped-up manufacturing, mass-market DDR4/DDR5 plans won't be able to quickly compensate for the shortage.

The largest manufacturers, Samsung and SK Hynix, have no plans to dramatically expand DRAM production capacity, preferring to stick with a conservative strategy to preserve long-term profitability and supply-demand balance. According to reports from Hankyung, the shortage may persist until 2028—when the companies' new production facilities will be ready.

The current RAM market crisis has ceased to be a short-term fluctuation and has become a structural shift whose consequences will shape the technology landscape for years to come. The driver isn't simply speculative hype, but a fundamental reallocation of resources across the entire semiconductor industry toward artificial intelligence infrastructure. As a result, the mass consumer segment—from gaming PCs to budget smartphones—finds itself playing catch-up, forced to accept higher costs and component shortages.

The way out will be gradual and will require either significant capital investment in new production capacity or a technological breakthrough that changes memory architecture itself. For now, both users and businesses must adapt to a new reality where RAM is not just a component, but a strategic and expensive resource.