Samsung raises DDR5 memory prices by over 100%
The surge in demand for AI is driving memory prices to soar, and it has been reported that Samsung has doubled the contract price for DDR5 memory.
DRAM power is leading the charge! 16Gb DDR5 combined price, 20 beautiful originals, Nanaga DDR5 certification and comprehensive coverage! - Newspaper classification - TechNOW Voice
Samsung hikes DDR5 prices 100%, reshaping device pricing in 2026
With the development of AI, companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are moving to secure GPUs and memory, and the market prices of these products are continuing to rise. Traditionally, the memory industry's largest customers were smartphone and PC manufacturers, but in recent years, the initiative has been shifting to companies building infrastructure such as AI servers, and it is expected that AI-related memory consumption will surpass that of smartphones by 2025, accounting for more than 50% of the market.
According to a report by Taiwanese media TechNOW Voice, Samsung has raised the contract price for its current latest DDR5 memory standard from $9 (approximately ¥1,400) per unit to $19.50 (approximately ¥3,000) to secure profits. Furthermore, Samsung has also raised the contract price for some DDR4 memory to a high level of $18 (approximately ¥2,800), so customers are reportedly being forced to pay high prices regardless of whether they stay with the DDR4 standard or migrate to DDR5.
According to TechNOW Voice, Taiwan's Nan Ya Technology has secured a large supply of DDR4 chips, and its newly mass-produced DDR5 chips have been certified by motherboard manufacturers such as MSI and GIGABYTE. Furthermore, all production capacity is under exclusive contract with Kingston Technology of the United States, leading to the expectation that DDR4 and DDR5 will continue to grow steadily in the future.
However, the memory industry is experiencing shortages across all lines, and major companies such as Samsung and SK Hynix have announced that they will end production of DDR4, so workarounds such as 'securing low-cost DDR4 memory to prepare for memory shortages' may no longer be effective.
TechNOW Voice estimates that DDR4 contract prices rose approximately fourfold and DDR5 contract prices rose approximately threefold between the end of May and the end of November 2025. 'The supply-demand gap will remain large in 2026, and prices are expected to continue rising,' the report said.
Coupled with the withdrawal of major player Micron from the consumer memory industry, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the average consumer to secure memory.
Micron to withdraw from consumer memory storage business, Crucial brand memory and SSD shipments to be halted in February 2026 - GIGAZINE
Related Posts:
in Hardware, Posted by log1p_kr