- AMD’s David McAfee expects DDR5 RAM prices to “recover slowly going forward”
- However, the executive added that DDR5 will not return to “normal” price levels for another two years.
- Meanwhile, rumors claim that Lenovo will implement another major round of price increases with its PCs.
An AMD executive told us that DDR5 RAM prices aren’t likely to normalize until 2028, and in other news, fresh off the broader memory and component crisis, Lenovo apparently has more price increases in the works for its PCs.
Let’s start with the history of AMD. VideoCardz highlighted the interview that 4Gamers conducted at Computex 2026, in which the Taiwanese site spoke with David McAfee, vice president and general manager of Ryzen CPU and Radeon Graphics.
When asked about the memory shortage (taking into account the article’s translation issues), McAfee said he expects prices to “recover slowly in the future,” but that DDR5 RAM won’t return to normal price levels for another two years.
VideoCardz also highlighted a post about X from leaker Harukaze5719, which in turn points to a report from Sina Finance in China that tells a separate story about Lenovo’s price increases.
Obviously, these are just whispers of rumors, but the theory is that Lenovo plans to increase prices in China by the equivalent of $150 in July. This applies to its PCs and laptops, and indeed to all the product lines Lenovo sells, we’re told (although common sense would dictate that cheap peripherals, like a basic Lenovo mouse, won’t get a $150 price increase).
While this is a (rumored) move in Asia, it would clearly make sense for similar cost increases to be implemented in the same order (perhaps even a little more) in other regions.
Analysis: more urgency for laptop buyers?
Basically, the AMD executive has joined the forecasters who see the RAM crisis abating during 2028. While that still means there’s still a long way to go, it’s actually a relatively optimistic prediction compared to some more recent thinking, particularly from the Nvidia CEO. Jensen Huang said the memory crisis will last “quite a few years,” suggesting we may have to be patient until 2029 or 2030 to see the worst of this pass. Others have guessed that we will navigate turbulent waters with RAM prices through 2030 as well.
The sad truth is that at this point, if I could have a guaranteed outcome by the end of 2028 for these RAM issues (somehow), I would take that perspective and run. Of course, there’s the question of what exactly McAfee means by returning to “normal levels,” complicated by the fact that this is a translated interview. Generally speaking, I assume this means that prices will go back down to more tasty levels relative to now, although, frankly, I don’t see them ever returning to pre-crisis levels.
It’s certainly a bleak outlook, although there is some hope that Chinese memory chip makers will address the RAM deficit to some extent with increased production from these Asian giants. McAfee alludes to this when he mentions that Changxin Memory in China is increasing its DDR5 production capacity, but others, particularly Huang, seem clearly indifferent to such arguments.
Of course, a lot could depend on what happens with AI in the future. However, with predictions of increased demand for memory in one form or another in that sphere (and no remote signs that the AI ’bubble’ will burst, or that smart technological innovations will help as much as some people think they might), I’m not optimistic overall.
In addition, the news from Lenovo is a new blow. If you remember, the computer giant already raised PC prices earlier this year, so this is another boost to cost increases related to the RAM crisis for laptops and desktops (and apparently other hardware).
As I’ve been discussing recently, after Nvidia CEO’s recent end-of-decade prediction about the extent of the memory crisis, now really seems like the right time to buy a laptop. The news that Lenovo could be about to push through even more substantial increases in PC prices only adds more urgency to that theory, because this surely won’t happen in isolation among PC vendors.
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