IT prices soar from rising memory costs

The prices of computers and some IT products have skyrocketed as a result of rising rates for memory chips in the global market.

- SUCHIT LEESA-NGUANSUK

People visit IT fair Commart Unlimit in 2025. Computer prices in Thailand have increased by 10-20% since December, according to local computer vendors. SOMCHAI POOMLARD

(SOMCHAI POOMLARD)

Memory chip prices have increased by 80-90% quarter-on-quarter in 2026, according to the February issue of Memory Price Tracker, marking an unprecedented surge.

The primary driver of this uptick is a sharp increase in the general-purpose server DRAM (dynamic random-access memory).

Furthermore, NAND memory, which was relatively quiet in the fourth quarter last year, recorded a parallel jump of 80-90% for the period.

Combined with the rising prices of some high-bandwidth memory 3 enhanced products, the market is rising full throttle across all segments.

For server-grade memory, the price of 64GB RDIMM has surged from a fixed contract price of US$450 in the fourth quarter of 2025 to more than $900 in the first quarter, and it appears likely to surpass $1,000 in the second quarter.

Computer prices in Thailand have increased by 10-20% since December, according to local computer vendors.

Reuters reported Samsung Electronics expects strong demand for memory chips to continue throughout the year and into 2027, citing robust demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI).

Jeongku Choi, senior analyst at Counterpoint, said for device manufacturers, this is a double whammy - rising component costs and weakened consumer purchasing power are likely to slow demand as the quarter progresses.