- MSI’s CEO has called 2026 “the most challenging year since the company was founded”
- The RAM crisis is hitting the laptop maker hard, cutting notebook production by 30% as a result
- There is brighter news elsewhere, as prices for DDR5 RAM appear to be falling in Europe – but not by much
The RAM crisis is once again exerting unwanted pressure on the wider PC market, even as some slightly more optimistic news has reached us about memory prices in Europe.
The dose of pessimism comes from MSI, which will raise the prices of its ‘gaming products’ by 15% to 30% this year. This is according to general manager Huang Jinqing on a recent earnings call, according to a report from Taiwan’s United Daily News (via Tom’s Hardware).
The increase is driven by the RAM shortage and also problems with the GPU supply from Nvidia – we are told that there is a 20% shortfall in securing the stock of the latter.
The article continues below
The result is that MSI will cut its low-end gaming laptops to 30%, so it can focus more on mid-range and high-end PCs. The simple equation to keep revenue flowing is to sell fewer units at higher prices.
Huang said that the PC industry is facing serious challenges and that: “This year is the most challenging year since the company was founded” (text translated from Chinese).
In addition to the changing priorities with laptops, MSI is changing its motherboards to favor models that support DDR4 memory. Where in the past four times as many DDR5 motherboards were shipped compared to DDR4, the situation has completely reversed, so that the older standard now comes off the production lines four times compared to the amount of DDR5 cards. It’s quite a remarkable turnaround.
Analysis: tough times despite some sparks of hope
As mentioned at the outset, VideoCardz noted another update from German tech site 3D Center, which keeps track of RAM prices in Germany, noting that the price of DDR5 memory fell by around 7% in March compared to February.
So that sounds pretty positive and it also mirrors other observations from the European market last month. But lest we get carried away, remember that DDR5 RAM is still quadrupling what it cost compared to the September 2025 price, according to 3D Center’s price tracker. It has just fallen back a bit after plateauing from January to February this year.
Obviously, it’s good to witness any sort of downward correction – or indeed just to see RAM prices not going up – but of course there’s a limit to how much prices will go up before most consumers throw their hands up and (rightly) just refuse to buy. Unless they have absolutely no choice, that is.
And elsewhere we hear more grim news about RAM increases, and as MSI makes clear, all this – and related supply issues around video memory for GPUs – makes life very difficult for PC manufacturers (or indeed those building a new computer for themselves). Of course, we’ve already heard as much from HP and other major laptop manufacturers.
But calling 2026 the “most challenging year” is quite a statement given that the 2020 pandemic was a very tough time for the market (and it’s not the first time we’ve heard this sentiment in the tech industry this year).
Huang predicts a 10% to 20% decline in PC sales this year, while analyst firms pitch their estimates to a 10% decline for 2026. That’s the best-case scenario as far as MSI’s general manager is concerned, to say the least, as is the fact that the budget will be hit hardest by the PC market.
The best laptops for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, video unboxings, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
