If you’ve priced out a RAM upgrade recently and did a double-take, you’re not imagining things. DDR5 memory has quietly become one of the most expensive components in PC building this year, and the reason has almost nothing to do with gamers or PC builders at all.
So… why are DDR5 RAM prices suddenly this high?
The short version: AI ate your memory upgrade. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron make more than 95% of the world’s DRAM, and right now they’d all rather sell high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to Nvidia and friends for AI accelerators than churn out standard DDR5 sticks for your next build. HBM margins are simply better, so fab lines that used to make consumer memory are getting redirected toward the AI boom instead.
The result is a supply crunch for everyone else. Spot prices on 16Gb DDR5 chips reportedly jumped from around $6.84 in September 2025 to about $27.20 by December 2025 — nearly a 300% increase in a single quarter. A 32GB DDR5 kit that would’ve set you back roughly £79 last September is now going for around £351. Gartner is forecasting memory costs could climb as much as 130% before this cycle is done.
How long is this going to last?
Nobody’s calling a bottom yet. As of mid-2026 there’s still no clear sign the price climb has peaked, and some analysts think the structural supply squeeze could stretch into 2027 as AI infrastructure spending keeps outpacing what the DRAM makers can produce. Tom’s Hardware has been tracking the numbers if you want to see how far kit prices have moved across capacities.
What this means if you’re building or upgrading right now
If you’re in the middle of a build and RAM is the last thing on your list, it might be worth locking in pricing sooner rather than later — waiting for a “correction” could mean waiting a long time. On the flip side, if your current setup is running fine, this isn’t a bad year to hold off on a RAM-only upgrade unless you genuinely need the extra capacity. Worth keeping an eye on kit prices before you commit either way.
We’ll keep tracking this as it develops — memory pricing has turned into one of the more interesting (and painful) stories in PC hardware this year, right up there with how AI has been reshaping everyday tech lately.