- DDR5 prices are already sky high, and further increases seem likely this year
- A 60% DRAM increase can push 32GB DDR5 modules past $500
- Server and AI demand is reshaping the supply of consumer memory
You can’t have failed to notice that DRAM memory prices are already high – and unfortunately, new forecasts have suggested that prices are about to rise much further.
Industry analysts expect a large increase in DDR5 costs in 2026, driven by tightening supply and shifting priorities across the memory market.
TrendForce says it expects DRAM contract prices to increase by about 55 to 60% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the previous quarter, reflecting tighter supply across the market.
Worrying prognosis
The research links the increase to vendors shifting advanced capacity toward server and HBM products, tightening supply in other markets, something I wrote about recently.
It is important to note that TrendForce’s forecast is about contract prices, not a guaranteed 1 to 1 jump for retail modules. Still, it gives a sense of the kind of pressure that could flow through to PC parts if inventories tighten and module makers pass on costs, which they surely will.
As an example of where things can go, on Newegg a single Patriot Viper Venom 32GB DDR5-5200 module is currently listed at $325.99.
If retail prices rose in line with the upper end of TrendForce’s forecast, multiplying that $325.99 baseline by 1.6 would put it around $521.60, a number that would have been unthinkable this time last year.
DDR5 is particularly at risk because it shares manufacturing processes with server-focused memory.
Even where demand has slowed, supply constraints are still pushing prices upwards as NAND Flash prices are also expected to rise, although the dynamics are different.
TrendForce predicts increases across all NAND categories, with client SSD prices expected to increase more than 40% quarter over quarter.
For PC builders, the outlook is grim right now. Memory budgeting is becoming more difficult, and components that were once considered secondary are increasingly central to building decisions.
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