- High-capacity DDR5 prices quadrupled in a matter of weeks during the 2025 quarter
- Both DDR5-5600 and DDR5-6000 moved in unison despite different specifications
- Data from early 2026 indicates that strong weekly increases have largely stopped
It has become increasingly difficult to ignore the rising cost of DRAM memory in recent months, particularly for higher capacity DDR5 kits.
Based on recent reports, the situation is unlikely to improve any time soon, but rather appears to be a stepping stone to even higher costs.
Estimates for early 2026 indicate that contract prices could rise sharply compared to late 2025 levels, and TrendForce now forecasts DRAM prices will increase by 55% to 60% in the first quarter of 2026.
High prices may be responsible for stability
A recent average market price trend by PCPartPicker (PPP) reveals that the pricing situation may be improving, especially for high-end models.
The trend shows that for much of the last 18 months, prices for high-capacity DDR5 memory kits have remained within a relatively tight range.
Models like DDR5-5600 and DDR5-6000 in 2x32GB configurations spent most of that period clustered just above the $200 level.
However, this prolonged stability ended abruptly during the last quarter of 2025, when price behavior changed in a short span of weeks.
Between October and December 2025, average DDR5-5600 2x32GB prices rose from just over $200 to around $800.
During the same period, DDR5-6000 2x32GB increased even more, reaching approximately $900 on average.
The magnitude of the increase makes it unlikely that it was driven by routine cost adjustments or incremental improvements.
Although DDR5-6000 kits typically had slightly higher prices than DDR5-5600, the difference remained inconsistent for much of the observed period.
At one point, both configurations sold at almost identical levels, indicating that rated speed alone did not reliably influence price.
Once prices began to rise, both models moved in the same direction and within the same time period, implying that the price of high-capacity memory continued to increase week after week, regardless of the individual rating.
However, since the beginning of 2026, the pace of weekly price increases has slowed noticeably, as early data shows little evidence of sharp and continued increases for these high-end kits, suggesting prices have stabilized for now.
This stabilization, however, has occurred at levels much higher than those previously observed. After all, an average price close to $900 for 64GB is a lot of money.
Therefore, the current price stabilization probably says less about improved market conditions and more about a limited willingness to buy at current prices.
After all, demand drives supply, and if there is no increase in demand, prices remain stable or even decline, but it remains to be seen whether this stagnant price will continue or DDR5 memory prices will fall.
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