Memory Apocalypse - Over 50% Increase in Prices Already!

[Tim Mayo]

If you are planning to buy memory cards, SSD drives, laptops, mobile phones or anything at all that contains DRAM or NAND memory then the time to do so is either today or preferably yesterday.

Prices are really starting to shoot up much more than I think anyone was anticipating. I received some updated price lists from card suppliers just before Christmas and their prices are up over 50% on last months prices.

Transcend has apparently not received any new NAND Flash shipments from their suppliers SanDisk and Samsung since at least October.

Here's a Transcend company communication:

The situation worsened in Q4 due to increased demand from large data centers and hyperscalers driven by major cloud service providers' expansion plans. All major chip manufacturers are prioritizing supply for these customers, which has led to price increases and extremely limited availability. Just last week alone, we were notified that costs had risen by 50-100%. The price-up trend continues at a very rapid pace and at an abnormal rate.

And here are a few industry articles if you are interested:

• https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/ssd-maker-transcend-left-lurch-171026128.html
• https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ram-storage-ridiculously-expensive-now-165119327.html
• https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20251201-12807.html
• https://www.techpowerup.com/343493/...-see-over-60-contract-price-hikes-in-november
• https://www.techpowerup.com/341578/nand-flash-shortages-may-last-10-years-phison-ceo-warns
• https://www.techpowerup.com/343619/...s-transcend-left-without-supply-since-october

There are still some good deals out there based on old stock prices but I fully expect these to be long gone as we get into January.

 

[Tim Mayo]

Just a couple of examples of cards that have really shot up in price:

Lexar Professional 256GB CFexpress Type B Card Gold Series
You can still purchase this for £175 on Amazon but Park Cameras lists it at the much higher new price of £315

Delkin Black 512GB CFexpress Type B 4.0 VPG400 Card
You can still purchase this for £200 at Park Cameras but I know the new recommend price is £580.
In the US B&H Photo now has it listed at $651.99

 

[ShipleyNW]

RAM has also become at least as insane as memory cards. The AI buildup has sucked up the memory supply so there's very little left for consumer demand.

I built a desktop in August and added 64Gb of Crucial DDR5. I paid $140 for a pair of 32Gb sticks. Those same sticks run $575 now (a 310% increase), and those are midrange examples. I saw some brands on Amazon for $800. Holy moly.

 

[JCBigler]

RAM, Solid State Drives, Flash Drives (USB, SD, MicroSD, CF Express, etc.) Even hard drive prices have been creeping up lately.

I think it's going to get worse before it gets better, and it's going to take a few years to settle down.

All these AI data centers are buying up everything they can using venture capital and IPO money.

 

[THXGEEK]

Memory Prices Spell Problems for Photographers in 2026 and Beyond.

OWC CFexpress4.0 Type B prices up by 70+ percent.