- Counterpoint Research has published a new report on RAM prices
- It predicts that PC RAM will almost double in price this quarter
- On top of that, one PC manufacturer has rung alarm bells about rising component prices – and it’s one of many
If you’ve been keeping your fingers crossed for some more optimistic news about the RAM crisis – because we’ve had glimpses of that lately – those hopes will be dashed, I’m afraid, by the latest developments, which are distinctly negative.
Most importantly here, we have a new report from Counterpoint Research, which observes that memory prices have almost doubled in Q1 2026 so far compared to the same period in the last quarter of 2025.
The firm informs us: “Memory prices are up 80%-90% QoQ in Q1 2026 so far, according to the February edition of Counterpoint’s Memory Price Tracker, marking an unprecedented and record-breaking increase.”
It’s not comforting language, of course, and while we’re told the primary force behind these huge price increases is the increase in the price of server RAM, PC memory modules have seen a very similar increase.
Counterpoint highlights notebook DDR4 RAM (SoDIMMs), of which an 8GB stick saw a 35% price increase in Q4 2025 (quarter-on-quarter), with a currently estimated jump to a 91% increase for Q1 2026 compared to the previous quarter.
Server RAM will end up 98% higher this quarter, and even NAND modules for storage will see a big jump in Q1 2026 – in fact, an expected 100% quarter-on-quarter increase. Ugly.
Analysis: the industry’s memory woes
Kontrapunkt basically tells us that all kinds of memory will go up in price this quarter, from PC RAM to server RAM, to HBM (High Bandwidth Memory, top-end modules for AI use) and indeed up to NAND for SSDs. As the analyst firm puts it in a nutshell: “the market is witnessing an upward trend at full throttle across all segments.”
Meanwhile, we’re hearing pretty much the same story from other analysts – like TrendForce, which predicts DRAM prices will increase by 50%, or possibly a bit more, in Q1 2026.
Closer to ground level in this component crisis, PC manufacturers are also warning of tough times ahead for RAM costs, and the latest in that regard is PowerGPU, a custom gaming PC builder in the US.
Tom’s Hardware noted that PowerGPU wrote to X to say that “we just got word that SSD and other parts prices have gone up again” and to “expect price increases early next week” on the company’s PCs. Presumably these ‘other parts’ are RAM, of course, and possibly GPUs as well, which face their own problems due to the scarcity of video memory.
It all sounds pretty ominous, and PowerGPU’s statement adds to the pile of such warnings from various PC manufacturers we’ve received late last year and in these early stages of 2026.
While there have been some more positive glimpses surrounding the RAM crisis recently, as noted at the outset – as a snapshot of DDR5 prices leveling off – the overall sentiment is very negative, with forecasts of not just more price hikes, but huge ones. Whether it’s 50% or 100% increases over this current quarter – take your pick from the pessimistic predictions – it looks like we’re in a lot more pain whether we’re buying standalone RAM or PCs (or indeed graphics cards).
It’s likely that PC manufacturers will try to find ways to at least partially mitigate this RAM price disadvantage, which could mean relying on smaller memory configurations with laptops – turning back the clock to use more 8GB loadouts – or indeed creative fudges such as Maingear’s BYOR or ‘Bring Your Own RAM’ concept.
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