Rising RAM Prices Driven by AI Demand to Impact Consumer Device Costs
RAM prices have more than doubled since October 2025, primarily due to increased demand from AI-driven data centres. This surge has created a supply imbalance that is pushing up memory costs significantly. Some industry sources report price hikes around 500% higher than a few months ago, with increases up to five times for vendors facing limited stock.
AI demand, especially for high-bandwidth memory used by cloud providers planning for 2026–27, is the main factor driving these memory price increases. As a result, the share of memory in a typical PC cost is rising from about 15–20% to 30–40%, which is squeezing margins for consumer device manufacturers.
Micron recently announced it will stop selling its Crucial brand to focus on meeting AI-related demand, further reducing consumer RAM options and potentially reallocating capacity away from consumer products.
The rising memory costs are expected to push up prices for devices such as smartphones, PCs, and other connected products as manufacturers pass these higher costs to consumers. It is projected that consumers will see about a $40–$50 increase in the price of a 16GB RAM laptop and roughly $30 added cost for a typical smartphone in 2026.
