DRAM Prices Are Surging

Memory used to be around 50% of the cost of an individual server. Now, with DRAM prices climbing fast, that percentage is even larger—up to 60-75%. If you’re running large-scale workloads, you’ve likely felt this squeeze.

The DRAM pricing model is being disrupted by a perfect storm of escalating demand, allocation shifts, supply constraints, and technical scaling limitations. Now is the time to make a thoughtful shift when it comes to your memory strategy. Here’s an overview of what’s going on with the DRAM market, and the proactive steps you can take to mitigate risk.

Factors Behind the Surge

Several recent industry reports paint a clear picture of how the DRAM market has shifted from oversupply and predictable pricing, to constricted supply and surging pricing.

According to a recent article from Tom’s Hardware, DRAM contract prices will rise as much as 50% through Q4, as the supply chain tightens significantly under AI and hyperscale cloud demand. This tightening has led to major U.S. and Chinese buyers only receiving about 70% of their ordered volumes, while smaller OEMs and channel players may see fulfillment drops as low as 35%. This has occurred largely due to the memory makers shifting their attention towards producing high-end modules (like HBM) and deprioritizing standard DDR5 and DDR4. In fact, DDR4 pricing has nearly tripled, due to recent EOL announcements from the major memory makers. Unless yields improve or demand eases, these allocation risks and price pressures could persist into 2026.

According to another article in PC Gamer, many memory makers are leaving DDR5 buyers in the lurch, with price increases of 35-50% every quarter projected into 2026. These manufacturers are reportedly delaying final price quotes and reducing transparency to their buyers, signaling how allocation power is shifting strongly toward suppliers.

Together, these articles demonstrate a bleak picture of the memory market: tight supply, price increases, and allocation risks.

What This Means for Your Team

These recent market forces have various implications for IT teams:

Budgeting risk has increased: what used to be “memory is a known commodity cost” is now “memory may escalate 30–50% per quarter or be unavailable”
Supply & allocation risk is real: if you’re not a top-tier hyperscaler, you may find your orders deferred, or you may receive less than 70% of your request
Legacy memory is under pressure: as attention shifts towards DDR5 and HBM, DDR4 and older modules are being end-of-lifed or deprioritized

The old strategy of “simply buy more DRAM when you need it” is becoming unreliable and economically unsound—prices are unpredictable, as is fulfillment. As such, the time to optimize DRAM utilization, overall memory architecture, and sourcing strategy is NOW. Given the market's volatility, employing a future-proof approach is critical.

MEXT Reduces DRAM Over-Dependence

At MEXT, our core value proposition is designed for exactly this tightening-memory environment. We can help reduce reliance on expensive, unpredictable DRAM with our patent-pending AI-Powered Predictive Memory™ technology—which enables low-cost, readily-available flash to effectively function as memory.

The impact: you can reduce your DRAM footprint (thereby reducing exposure to DRAM price escalation) or maintain your DRAM footprint but gain more effective memory capacity (meaning you can support larger workloads without adding more physical DRAM).

MEXT is a software-only solution that can be implemented with no changes to your hardware or software stack, so you gain agility at a time when hardware lead times are long.

The Bottom Line

The memory market is facing drastic price and supply risks. The good news is that you don’t have to stand by and hope your business won’t be impacted. With MEXT, you can architect proactively—reducing dependence on DRAM alone, hedging against a volatile supply chain, and turning memory risk into strategic opportunity.

If your team is already raising red flags about DRAM budgets, lead times, or allocation risks, it’s time to act. Fill out the form on this page to begin your free proof-of-concept; discover how much you can reduce your DRAM footprint by or how much memory capacity you can add through flash-plus-MEXT.