- Cloud costs could rise 5-10% in 2026, warns OVHcloud CEO Octave Klaba
- AI demand is pushing up RAM and NVMe costs across the industry
- Inventory building can delay price increases, but a change in trends can accelerate them
OVH CEO Octave Klaba has warned that cloud service prices across the industry could rise by around 5-10% by mid-2026, or possibly earlier, due to rising hardware costs.
In an X post, Klaba explained that the price of RAM and NVMe disks will increase “a lot” (translated from French).
Klaba added that the rising costs would be attributed to demand-based pricing, compounded by the ongoing rise of AI, causing a knock-on effect across the entire industry for any company that needs such components.
Cloud costs may increase thanks to AI
Recent separate analyst data from TrendForce supports the trend, with DDR4 prices up 158% since September 2025 and DDR5 up 307%. Samsung has already responded to the trend, raising some prices by 60%.
In the short term, it is possible that some companies may look to delay the effects of price increases by stocking affected components now, based on cheaper prices. But it is exactly that – a delay. Ultimately, high demand will lead to higher prices all around.
Klaba says this could extend the availability of lower prices for about six to 12 months.
For OVH in particular, cloud services could see a 5-10% price increase between April and September 2026. Server costs are expected to increase by around 15-25% over the same period.
Although hybrid clouds and the return to on-prem (otherwise called repatriation) remain an option for many, analysts do not expect a major shift away from the cloud as a whole.
“In short, the consequence of AI on the cloud: the price of certain cloud products will increase by approximately +5 to +10% between April and September 2026,” he wrote.
He prefaces the post with a caveat – these predictions are based on data and trends from November 2025. A change from this over the coming weeks and months could accelerate price increases, he warns.
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