The RAM crisis shows no signs of letting up. What began as a temporary chip supply issue has become a nightmare for the tech industry and consumers, who are seeing prices for computers, consoles, and mobile phones continue to rise. Now, Samsung, one of the world's leading memory manufacturers, has issued a stark warning: the shortage is going to get worse before it gets better.
The rise of artificial intelligence has driven up demand for high-performance memory, and manufacturers are prioritizing production for AI servers over consumer electronics. This has created a bottleneck resulting in constant price increases and stock shortages affecting popular products like the MacBook Air and Xbox consoles. Worse still, forecasts indicate that the situation won't normalize anytime soon.
Samsung warns that the shortage will worsen in 2027
In its latest earnings call, Samsung Executive Vice President Jaejune Kim was emphatic: "We believe incremental supply increases are unlikely until 2028. Supply constraints are expected to worsen further in 2027." These statements confirm that the crisis is not only unresolved but is actually intensifying. The South Korean company, which controls around a third of the global memory market, has already signed five-year supply agreements with the world's five largest data center operators, committing 65% of its production capacity. This leaves very little memory available for the rest of the industry.
The demand for AI is so immense that the three major manufacturers (Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron) have dedicated up to 70% of their production to HBM memory , which is essential for artificial intelligence servers. The rest—conventional memory for PCs, mobile devices, and consoles—remains a secondary priority. And although companies are expanding factories and converting existing plants, supply is nowhere near meeting the demand.
Impact on technology prices
Data from DRAMeXchange, a memory price tracker, shows that PC RAM rose 14,3% month-over-month in July, while NAND flash memory (used in SSDs) increased in price between 35% and 51%. These price hikes are passed directly on to the end consumer. For example, Microsoft has already raised the price of the Xbox Series X by €200, and Nintendo and Sony are expected to follow suit. Apple is also feeling the pinch: it has increased the price of its Macs and iPads, and the MacBook Air is experiencing shipping delays of up to a month due to stock shortages.
The problem isn't limited to consoles. High-end PCs are also suffering. Graphics cards, which have integrated memory, have seen price increases of around 30% in the case of Nvidia, and AMD has had to release models with less memory to keep prices 'reasonable'. In the mobile market, manufacturers are reducing the amount of RAM in their premium models to keep costs down. Google, for example, plans to reduce the RAM in its next Pixel from 16 GB to 12 GB.
The situation is so critical that some analysts believe the crisis could extend beyond 2028. Although Samsung expects supply to begin increasing from that year onward, the new production capacity won't be ready until 2029 or 2030. In the meantime, prices will continue to rise and shortages will be the norm.
The industry is looking for alternatives
Faced with this situation, companies are seeking desperate solutions. Gigabyte, for example, has decided to relaunch motherboards based on AMD's AM4 platform, which uses DDR4 memory instead of the more expensive DDR5. This is a way to offer more affordable products to consumers who cannot afford current prices. They are also looking to China, where the manufacturer CXMT could offer cheaper memory, but so far it has not managed to lower costs and, moreover, prioritizes local companies.
Meanwhile, consumers face a dilemma: buy now and pay a premium , or wait for prices to drop, something that doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon. Experts recommend that if you need a device, you buy it as soon as possible, because prices are only going to rise. The RAM crisis is here to stay, at least for the next few years.
The RAM crisis is far from over. Samsung has confirmed that the shortage will worsen in 2027 and that supply won't increase until 2028, keeping prices sky-high. Demand for AI is the main culprit, and manufacturers are prioritizing that market at the expense of consumer electronics. Consoles, PCs, phones, and tablets have already seen price increases, and more are expected. If you're thinking of buying a device, do it now, because it will be more expensive tomorrow.