Memory price skyrockets as demand for AI data centers drives 369% year-over-year surge (www.techradar.com)

In the third quarter of 2026, global DRAM revenue surged by 369% year-over-year, reaching nearly $200 billion, driven primarily by insatiable demand from AI data centers. Despite only a 4% increase in chip shipments, prices skyrocketed, with the blended DRAM price rising to $1.90 per gigabit, and even higher-performance High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) nearing $4 per gigabit. Major manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron reported record profits while facing declining shipments of traditional consumer electronics like phones and PCs. This stark shift underscores a significant change in the market, turning memory from a commodity into a highly sought-after resource. The implications for the AI/ML community are profound. As AI applications increasingly demand more memory, conventional DRAM is becoming essential not only for data centers but also for consumer-grade devices. This competition for memory has inflationary effects on both AI infrastructure and general consumer technology costs, with retail prices of smartphones climbing around 20% year-over-year. Analysts predict that the current memory shortage could persist through 2030, with manufacturers reluctant to assure relief in pricing, suggesting that the transitional dynamics within the memory market may fundamentally alter future price behaviors and availability.