RAMageddon explained: the RAM shortage and the price surge

What is RAMageddon?

RAMageddon is the nickname for the sharp rise in memory prices that started in 2025 and is still going on. It hits everything that contains DRAM: desktop kits, laptop modules, graphics cards, phones and servers. For a PC builder it means a memory kit that used to be a small line on the shopping list is now one of the most expensive parts.

The rise did not come from one event. It is the sum of decisions by the memory makers, long term contracts signed by large cloud companies, and PC makers buying ahead because they expect even tighter supply. Shops pass the higher purchase prices on with a delay, which is why the same kit can cost very different amounts in two shops in the same week.

We use the name as an editorial angle, not as a forecast. The facts below come from the memory makers, from the market research firm TrendForce and from our own weekly price checks.

Why prices went up

Almost all DRAM in the world comes from a handful of chip makers. Those makers decide how to split their factory capacity between products, and in the last two years the most profitable products have been memory for AI and cloud servers.

TrendForce wrote on September 30, 2026 that suppliers keep prioritising advanced process capacity for high performance server products, and that the market for conventional DRAM stays undersupplied. It expects conventional DRAM contract prices to rise 10 to 15% quarter on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2026. For PC memory, it sees PC makers buying aggressively because supply in 2027 could shrink further as capacity moves to servers.

The clearest signal came from Micron. On December 3, 2025, Micron announced that it would leave the Crucial consumer business, the brand under which it sold RAM and SSDs to consumers, and keep shipping Crucial products only until the end of February 2026. Micron gave the growth of AI data centers as the reason. Existing Crucial products keep their warranty.

What our US data shows

We check US shops every week: Adorama, Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Best Buy, Corsair.com, Newegg and Walmart this week. The current figures, filled in from the latest run on October 13, 2026:

Prices are excluding sales tax. Our tracking started recently, so the trend still has to build up: change of the median DDR5 price per GB over 4 weeks is not measured yet. The 32GB price page shows every kit in that size with its shop.

Why DDR4 does not save you

Normally the older generation gets cheaper when the new one takes over. This time the makers are winding DDR4 down at the same moment. In July 2025 TrendForce reported that Samsung, SK hynix and Micron planned to end DDR4 shipments between late 2025 and early 2026, and that consumer DDR4 contract prices were expected to jump 40 to 45% in the third quarter of 2025. Later reports said Samsung and SK hynix pushed part of that phase out into 2026 because DDR4 had become profitable again.

For you that means DDR4 is not the cheap escape route it used to be. If your PC uses DDR4, compare the DDR4 prices with the cost of moving to a DDR5 platform before you decide.

How we measure the price change

To make the trend readable, we compare the median DDR5 desktop price per GB of the latest week with a baseline week. The change only shows once that baseline is at least 8 weeks old. Change since October 13, 2026: not measured yet. Our US tracking started in October 2026, so the figure measures the change from that point on, not the rise that happened before.

What we do not know yet

• How fast new memory factories reach full output, and how much of that output goes to consumer products.
• Whether AI server demand keeps growing at this pace through 2027.
• Whether smaller memory makers can ship enough DDR5 and DDR4 to fill the gap left by the large ones.
• How long shops can keep selling from older stock, which can hide the rise for a few weeks.