Missing a word
"expected to double AGAIN"
DRAM prices expected to double in Q1 as AI ambitions push memory fabs to their limit
The memory shortage is worse than most of us first thought. Prices on DRAM and NAND flash memory are expected to surge in the first quarter of 2026 as AI-driven hyperscalers and cloud service providers (CSPs) continue to strain supply chains. In early January, the industry watchers at TrendForce warned the contract prices of …
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Tuesday 3rd February 2026 13:25 GMT Roland6
Re: Missing a word
Definitely, I expect the fab operators to be looking to increase margins to enable them to more easily pay for the enlargement and refurbishment of their Fabs.
An interesting consideration is whether you treat the AI demand as just a 1~3 year bubble and thus don’t increase Fab capacity, as when the downturn hits…
I’m tempted to suggest TSMC have enough capacity under construction that they won’t be increasing production instead they will be increasing prices to moderate demand in line with supply.
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Tuesday 3rd February 2026 07:57 GMT blu3b3rry
Ugh
I've already seen PCs for sale on eBay that are being sold "barebone" for approximately half their usual value. Presumably the RAM is now worth far more than the computer itself....
Recently upgraded a few work machines to W11 and it really doesn't feel like the performance requirements it has square against the increasing squeeze that is likely to happen with memory capacity in newer computers.
One W11 laptop is a pretty quick 11th gen i5 but is heavily kneecapped by its 8GB single-channel ram. The OS swallows just over 50% all to itself leaving precious little to one side for Outlook and Teams to argue over, never mind opening any documents! It slows the machine to the point it feels like it's running a 5400rpm spinner in there instead of NVMe.
All this is likely to do is drive people away to Chromebooks and tablets even more than they are already.....
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Tuesday 3rd February 2026 13:01 GMT Roland6
Re: Ugh
I expect many (both private and business) who purchased cheap laptops - which by definition have limited memory and expansion and tend to use low speed memory, will be complaining about how slow W11 in it’s AI/Copilot intregrated version slows their machine down.
The concern is with large increases in price, more people will be tempted or budget constrained to purchase budget replacement systems…
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Wednesday 4th February 2026 10:54 GMT file
Bloat
We were using 512MB LPDDR4 on a headless Linux product, but a few months back we were told that part is no longer available and had to switch to 1GB. Now we've been told that is no longer available and have to order 2GB parts... It seems like suppliers are trying to lock in longer term volume.
Lead times have also gone out to 52 weeks and price is on allocation, typically a few weeks before shipment.
Fun times
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Thursday 5th February 2026 08:29 GMT Anonymous Coward
Maybe combine it with the other scam NTF?
Rather than buying up everything, ducking us all, and stashing it in a warehouse coz they don't have the power to actually run it. How about they create a bunch of NTFs AI assets which they can trade to keep the gravy train going and keep selling the actual stuff to people who need it at an actual reasonable rate?
