Why RAM and SSD Prices Keep Climbing as Memory Makers Chase AI

RAM and SSD prices keep rising because memory makers now lock most of their output into long term deals with AI data centers, so cheap memory may not return.

Since September 2025, average prices rose 363 percent for 32GB DDR5 kits, 294 percent for DDR4 kits and 137 percent for 2TB NVMe SSDs, according to GamersNexus samples of retail listings.

Samsung plans to commit 60 to 70 percent of its capacity to contracts running three to five years, while Micron, SanDisk and Kioxia sign similar deals and Western Digital discusses terms reaching 2031.

The shift turns the old boom and bust memory cycle into a backlog of presold supply, so the price crash that usually follows a shortage may never arrive.

Xbox raised console prices by up to $150, IDC expects the average smartphone to cost 27.6 percent more this year, and Amazon says the squeeze is pushing companies off their own servers and into its cloud.

Chinese makers CXMT and YMTC are gaining share and could add supply, but Washington is pressing American companies to avoid them.

Until new fabs come online, which takes years, buyers should expect a higher floor on memory prices even if the peak eases.

The contracts protect the sellers more than the buyers. Samsung's long term agreements include price floors for commodity memory and upfront payments covering roughly a quarter of contracted volume, TrendForce reports, citing ETNews, so the company is cushioned against the next downturn while everyone outside the deals competes for what is left. That leftover market is punishing: a 36GB HBM3E part reportedly sells for $2,100 on the spot market, four to five times its contract price, per TrendForce. PC builders and small firms, who never sign five year contracts, absorb the gap. Watch Samsung's third quarter earnings call in late October for how much capacity remains uncommitted.