Acer CEO says PC prices could fall by 2027, accuses rivals of milking the RAM shortage for profit

Acer's CEO suggests that PC prices could decrease by 2027, countering claims from other memory manufacturers that shortages will persist until at least 2030. Jason Chen, Acer's CEO, claims that the worst of the RAM shortage may be over by the end of the year. He suggests that supply of most RAM and SSD types has caught up with demand, with high-end parts being the exception.

The current memory market resembles that of two decades ago, with per-unit prices remaining high. Chipset manufacturers like Micron, SK Hynix, and Adata have all made varying predictions on the length of the shortage and elevated pricing. Micron's Sanjay Mehrotra estimated the situation would continue beyond 2027, while SK Hynix's Kwak Noh-Jung predicted peak shortages in 2027 lasting through 2030. Chen Li-bai, Adata's chairman, went further, forecasting elevated prices for another decade.

Chen argues that these predictions are driven by the desire to maintain high profit margins from the AI boom, rather than supply realities. He believes that supply of most RAM and SSD types has already caught up with demand, with the shortages limited to high-end parts such as the fastest DDR5 modules and CPUs like Nvidia's N1X.

Chen still anticipates a 5% to 20% increase in PC prices this year, with a peak in the first half of 2027 before prices start to ease. He attributes this to new, cheaper supply from Chinese manufacturers like CXMT, and recent reports suggest that Apple is considering CXMT as a potential supplier to help alleviate its own cost pressures, despite the company's continued presence on the Pentagon's blacklist.