Overview
- Recent market research and spot-price data show sharp consumer memory moves in Q2 2026, with one firm reporting DRAM rises up to about 89% and SSD prices climbing more than 50% versus Q1.
- A Jefferies-linked memory analyst projected extreme sequential increases of roughly 40–50% in Q3 2026 and 30–40% in Q4, and warned of roughly 40% annual rises through 2027 before easing in 2028.
- Market mechanics driving the squeeze include hyperscalers locking large shares of output through long-term contracts and prepayments and a shift of capacity toward high-bandwidth memory for AI workloads.
- ASUS and some commentators dispute the most dire forecasts, saying recent supplier moves and falling spot costs point to only modest single-digit PC price rises in Q3 2026 rather than repeated double-digit shocks.
- Capacity lead times mean broad relief is unlikely this year and many analysts expect meaningful global easing only as new fabs and Chinese production scale by around 2028, with consumers facing higher device prices in the near term.