DDR5 laptop memory prices surge 6X in 12 months

XMG, a manufacturer of gaming laptops and workstations, reported a sixfold increase in the prices of DDR5 SO-DIMMs since July 2025. The company anticipates RAM shortages through 2027 and beyond. This surge in DDR5 SO-DIMM prices aligns with the 500% rise in desktop RAM costs over the past year. However, the issue extends beyond memory, as other components like PCBs, CPUs, graphics cards, and video memory are also experiencing cost pressures.

Factors contributing to the rising costs include the Middle East conflict, increased oil and fuel prices leading to higher air freight and sea cargo insurance premiums, and ultimately necessitating price hikes for several XMG models. The company emphasized that its margins are fixed, and the price hikes are a direct result of escalating upstream costs.

Should these input prices decline, XMG will adjust its retail prices accordingly, as it has done in the past. This situation mirrors Framework's approach, where it recently lowered the memory prices for the Laptop 13 Pro after securing a cheaper source for LPCAMM2. The outlook for the memory situation is cautiously pessimistic, aligning with Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra's assertion that DRAM shortages will persist into 2027.

However, Asus CEO Jason Chen remains cautiously optimistic, predicting that component prices will begin to reverse in the latter half of 2027, as increasing production from Chinese memory makers may alleviate the shortage. The uncertainty surrounding the accuracy of these predictions leaves consumers and industry stakeholders eagerly awaiting the future developments in memory prices over the next 12 months.