Memory Prices Are Set To Increase Here’s Why It Matters

This isn’t an April Fools’ joke—Micron has officially declared that it will increase prices across its entire range of products, which includes DRAM and NAND flash memory. The adjustments will occur gradually and are not expected to catch consumers off-guard; nonetheless, the reality is that RAM prices will rise. As a result, top-quality RAM will become more expensive, extending beyond just standard PC memory.

Micron communicated the price hike in a letter to its investors, which was later discussed by Tom’s Hardware. The company explained that the memory and storage sectors are finally experiencing growth after a couple of years of stagnation. This trend is also evident on the consumer side, where memory prices have just begun to stabilize—DDR5 RAM, once extremely expensive, is now more accessible (though that may change soon).

Growing demand is driving these price increases. While the ongoing surge in GPU prices has become commonplace, Micron attributes the hike to the escalating need for memory and NAND flash in AI applications, rather than a fault of the consumer market.

In enterprise contexts, this primarily pertains to high-bandwidth memory (HBM), essential for data centers and applications like AI accelerators and GPUs. As a result, companies such as Nvidia might face increased costs for DRAM and NAND flash used in SSDs, smartphones, and USB drives—all critical for powering storage in extensive data centers.

What does this mean for consumers?

With all this focus on AI, many might assume that consumers would be shielded from these price increases, but that’s not the case.

Hikes in DRAM and NAND flash prices could lead to an increase in costs for a range of products. While RAM kits and SSDs are the most obvious candidates, other items such as graphics cards could also see price hikes, especially if GDDR memory costs rise (a situation we could all do without). Additionally, devices like smartphones and gaming consoles that utilize NAND-based storage may become more expensive as well.

On the bright side, any price increases for consumers are anticipated to be less significant compared to those facing large data centers. While a price rise is likely, it shouldn’t be too drastic—though, given the current landscape of PC components, surprises are always possible.

If you’ve been planning to get new RAM or an SSD, you might want to make your purchases sooner rather than later to avoid these impending price increases.