The ever rising demands of AI, new data center builds, a stock shortage, and the end of DDR4 have caused a surge in prices for PC memory. This is especially true for DDR5 memory, which has seen its average price skyrocket since September 2025.
According to PCPartPicker's trending graphs, the prices have gone up almost $100 for some DDR5 kits. For example, DDR5-6000 (2x16GB) kits went from about $125 in August 2025 up to $225 now. A 32GB kit of DDR5-5600 went from about $110 in September up to almost $200 now. Similar increases can be seen in DDR5-5200 and DDR5-4800 prices.
The prices of DDR4 memory kits started to steadily increase in mid-June 2025. The average for DDR4-3600 (2x16GB) went from about $80 in May to about $175 today. Other DDR4 kits showed similar increases.
Samsung was supposed to have finalized memory pricing contract quotes by the end of October 2025. They failed to do so and it is expected that these contracts won't be finalized until mid-November. This delay and lack of communication from Samsung reportedly caused prices of memory to jump up 25% in just a single week.
Samsung isn't the only memory manufacturer pulling the silent treatment with clients. SK Hynix and Micron are also reportedly not giving any firm numbers to clients. It's also being reported that ADATA, Crucial, Corsair, and G.Skill are declining new orders. Chen Libai, CEO of ADATA previously confirmed shortages of DRAM, SSDs, and HDDs. Some shops are also reportedly restricting sales on SSDs and HDDs in addition to system memory.
Without knowing firm prices, clients have increased the prices on their products because they don't want to be caught with their pants down if they suddenly need to start paying higher rates to secure the same amount of supply.
Industry sources speaking with Digitimes speculate that DDR5 prices are expected to rise by 30%-50% each quarter until the second half of 2026.
