Memory Prices Have Nearly Doubled Since Last Quarter
5 40Memory prices across DRAM, NAND and HBM have surged 80 to 90% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026, according to Counterpoint Research's latest Memory Price Tracker. The price of a 64GB RDIMM has jumped from a Q4 2025 contract price of $450 to over $900, and Counterpoint expects it to cross $1,000 in Q2.
NAND, relatively stable last quarter, is tracking a parallel increase. Device makers are cutting DRAM content per device, swapping TLC SSDs for cheaper QLC alternatives, and shifting orders from the now-scarce LPDDR4 to LPDDR5 as new entry-level chipsets support the newer standard. DRAM operating margins hit the 60% range in Q4 2025 -- the first time conventional DRAM margins surpassed HBM -- and Q1 2026 is on track to set all-time highs.
5 comments
More than doubled (Score: 5, Informative)
by NormAtHome ( 99305 ) on Friday February 06, 2026 @05:33PM (#65973718)
Up until September the G.Skill memory kit I'd been buying to build computers was $119.99 and now its over $400 that's close to a 400% increase
Re:More than doubled (Score: 5, Interesting)
by evanh ( 627108 ) on Friday February 06, 2026 @05:43PM (#65973730)
Yes, it's nearly 4x since September. The article is blinkered.
Re:More than doubled (Score: 5, Funny)
by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 ) on Friday February 06, 2026 @05:44PM (#65973734)
That's a 233% increase, not 400%.
Perhaps, if you had more memory, your calculator could figure it out.
Be thankful that it's mostly only RAM, for now... (Score: 5, Insightful)
by ffkom ( 3519199 ) on Friday February 06, 2026 @06:03PM (#65973758)
... wait until "running AI" earnestly competes with you for energy, water, land, sunlight... the little nuisance of "gaming PC expensive!" will then soon be forgotten.
Well boys and girls (Score: 5, Interesting)
by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Friday February 06, 2026 @06:29PM (#65973776)
The bloatware show is over. We coders aren't going to be allowed to import a massive library to solve some tiny problem in our projects. We might have to actually design and code up light weight solutions again if we want our programmers to actually fit on people's computers. People that put 8GB in their mid-range laptop are going to be stuck there for quite some time, at least another two CPU generations.
And that doesn't mean you can write your apps to eat up 7GB of RAM, no people still will want to run more than one program on their computer at a time.