News
AI Boom Driving Price Increases for Less-Trendy Memory Chips
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 01:12 AM
New coverage suggests the AI-driven demand for chips is extending price hikes to less-commonly discussed memory types, indicating broad pricing pressure in the memory market. This points to strong underlying demand affecting more segments of the memory supply chain.
Context
The AI boom is creating an unexpected supply crunch for conventional memory chips, benefiting major producers Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron. As these firms shift production capacity to lucrative high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI accelerators, the supply of standard DRAM and NAND is tightening rapidly. This has triggered sharp price hikes, with Samsung raising prices on select memory chips by up to 60% since September 2025. Spot prices for DRAM nearly tripled year-over-year in September, reflecting a market reversal from severe oversupply in early 2023.
The squeeze is set to continue, with inventories plummeting to just eight weeks from 31 weeks in early 2023. TrendForce forecasts conventional DRAM contract prices will climb another 8-13% in Q4 2025, with NAND prices poised for double-digit gains in early 2026. With SK Hynix reporting its 2026 capacity is already sold out, the trend signals sustained margin upside for memory makers but growing cost pressures for PC, server, and smartphone manufacturers.
Sources (29)
When Will RAM Prices Drop? Global Memory Market ...AI demand drives up DRAM prices, lead timeshow the AI boom is stoking prices of less trendy memoryQ3–Q4 2025 Electronic Components Industry OutlookChip crunch: how the AI boom is stoking prices of less ...Heekyong YangHow the AI boom is stoking prices of less trendy memoryAI boom drives memory shortages, price hikes, and ...
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