RAMageddon explained: the RAM shortage and why prices keep rising

What is RAMageddon?

RAMageddon is the tech press nickname for the steep rise in memory prices that began in 2025 and has not stopped. The Guardian describes it as the name the tech press has given the memory chip shortage. It hits everything that contains DRAM: desktop kits, laptop modules, graphics cards, phones, consoles and servers.

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

Why did prices go up?

Almost all the world's DRAM comes from a handful of chip makers, and they decide how to split their factory capacity. Chips for AI servers pay better than chips for desktop kits, so capacity went there. Micron said on its December 2025 earnings call that high bandwidth memory for AI needs about three times as much wafer space as DDR5, according to Tom's Hardware, and that it could meet only half to two thirds of demand from key customers.

On September 30, 2026, TrendForce wrote that the market for conventional DRAM remains undersupplied and that PC makers are buying aggressively because supply in 2027 could shrink further as capacity moves to servers. Retail prices follow contract prices with a lag, which is why two shops can charge very different amounts for the same kit in the same week.

The numbers behind the rise

TrendForce reported that conventional DRAM contract prices rose about 93% to 98% quarter on quarter in the first quarter of 2026, a record. Increases slowed after that: it forecast 13% to 18% for the third quarter and expects 10% to 15% for the fourth quarter of 2026. These are contract prices between makers and big buyers, not shop prices.

The Guardian reported the knock-on for UK buyers in May 2026: Sony raised the PS5 price by £90, Microsoft added £170 to £200 to Surface starting prices, and Apple raised the MacBook Air starting price by £100. We have not found a published UK retail memory series we can verify, so the UK figures below come from our own checks, which began in October 2026.

What our UK data shows

We check UK shops every week: AWD-IT, Box, CCL, Ebuyer, Laptops Direct, Novatech, Overclockers UK and Scan this week. The figures below were filled in from the run on 13 October 2026. Prices including VAT.

Change of the median DDR5 price per GB over the last 4 weeks: not measured yet. See 32GB RAM prices for every kit in that size.

Crucial leaves, and DDR4 goes with it

On December 3, 2025, Micron announced it would exit the Crucial consumer business, covering Crucial products sold through retailers worldwide. Shipments through that channel continued until the end of February 2026. Warranty service for existing Crucial products carries on. Micron still makes DRAM for PC makers and for other brands' modules.

The DDR4 end of life landed in the same months. In July 2025 TrendForce reported, citing industry sources, that Samsung, SK hynix and Micron planned to end DDR4 shipments between late 2025 and early 2026. DDR4 is therefore not the bargain it once was, and the choice of DDR4 kits in UK shops is thinner than for DDR5.

Will it end?

The makers disagree with each other. Micron's CEO said on the September 2026 earnings call that demand will exceed supply in 2027 and 2028, with no line of sight to balance, as reported by Tom's Hardware. Acer's CEO takes the opposite view and expects PC prices to rise through late 2026, peak in the first half of 2027 and then ease. We do not take a side. Our weekly data will show which one is right.

What we do not know yet

• How quickly new factories reach full output, and how much of it goes to consumer products rather than AI servers.
• Whether AI server demand keeps growing at this pace through 2027.
• Whether smaller makers can ship enough DDR5 and DDR4 to fill the gap left by the big three.
• How long UK shops can sell from older stock, which can hide a rise for a few weeks.