Will RAM prices go down in 2027?

Consumers hoping for a relief in PC memory costs will be deeply disappointed. According to leading market analysts, RAM prices will definitively not go down in 2027, as the global semiconductor industry faces a prolonged and severe supply shortage.

The primary cause behind this crisis is the explosive demand for artificial intelligence. Major memory manufacturers are drastically reallocating their production lines away from standard DDR4 and DDR5 memory to manufacture highly profitable High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI servers.

This aggressive shift has created a massive crowding-out effect on conventional DRAM capacity. TrendForce estimates that HBM will account for a staggering 30 per cent of total DRAM wafer starts in 2027, leaving consumer RAM supplies artificially strangled and largely sold out.

The resulting undersupply is driving costs to record highs. After traditional DRAM contract prices surged by roughly 130 per cent in early 2026, financial firms like Goldman Sachs predict Samsung's average selling prices will jump by another 27 per cent in 2027.

Market intelligence firm Gartner confirms that the global memory shortage is profound and will not resolve quickly. They forecast that a 3.6 per cent market undersupply will persist throughout 2027, meaning any meaningful pricing relief is completely off the table until late 2027 or 2028.

Even the ultra-premium HBM market is facing violent inflation due to the insatiable appetite of AI hyperscalers. Industry consensus points toward manufacturers sharply raising HBM quotes, with the potential for contract prices to completely double in 2027.

For the average PC builder or gamer, this translates to agonizingly expensive hardware upgrades. With standard 32GB DDR5 kits already breaching the USD 300 mark, consumers should expect to pay severe premiums for RAM, SSDs, and laptops well into 2027.