Implications of the 2026 RAM Crisis.

As of writing, it is 11/30/25, and it's clear that RAM prices are sharply increasing, and it doesn't seem to be slowing anytime soon. The harsh truth is that RAM is a commodity. An absolute necessity. Many PC builders are attempting to boycott RAM companies, so these absurd prices are forced down, but it simply won't work because of basic economic theory.

In my opinion, it's the beginning of the end.

Okay, I'm being a little dramatic.

This whole fiasco can be attributed to a few factors. AI is the main reason. RAM companies are producing RAM to fit the needs of the new AI market, and cutting the supply of older DDR4 RAM kits. In the past few years, with second-hand DDR4 kits becoming dirt cheap, these memory companies weren't making much money. Now that there's a massive need for RAM kits, these companies, particularly the big three: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology, have decided to squeeze the market by producing less, and therefore driving prices up for the consumer. It is classic economics: reduce supply to drive prices up to match the demand.

By the way, this is happening for NVME SSDs as well, just not to the same degree as RAM.

Some are speculating that this could turn into a GPU shortage as well because of these LLMs' need for GPU VRAM.

I'm getting flashbacks to the 2021 GPU Crisis.

In 2021, due to a combination of COVID-19 and GPU Mining, it was nearly impossible to get a GPU for anywhere near MSRP. In fact, I remember looking at the price of my current GPU at the time, the GTX 1080, and the used price quite literally doubled. The then-current-gen 30 Series Nvidia cards were scalped and sold on eBay, marked up hundreds of dollars. The RTX 3090 was marked up thousands. I remember people were "lucky" to score the lowest-end 30 Series card: The RTX 3060, for 800 dollars apiece.

If I'm going to be honest, I definitely contributed to the state of the market, being a GPU Miner at the time.

In all fairness, I was a very small-time Miner, having only one GPU (the aforementioned GTX 1080), and never scalped or sold a marked-up GPU.

Anyways...

So far, I've bought around 10 DDR4 kits in preparation for the possible "Dark Ages" that may come in the next few months.

I just hope it doesn't last too long, but let's be realistic: AI will not be slowing down. And if AI isn't slowing down, that means the state of the market won't be either.