- MSI CEO called 2026 “the most challenging year since the company was founded”
- The RAM crisis is hitting the laptop maker hard and as a result, it is reducing the production of low-end laptops by 30%.
- There is better news elsewhere, as DDR5 RAM prices are apparently falling in Europe, but not by as much.
The RAM crisis is once again putting unwanted pressure on the broader PC market, even as we hear slightly more optimistic news about memory prices in Europe.
The dose of pessimism comes from MSI, which is going to increase the prices of its ‘gaming products’ by between 15% and 30% this year. This is according to general manager Huang Jinqing in a recent earnings call, according to a report from Taiwan’s United Daily News (via Tom’s Hardware).
The increases are due to RAM shortages and also issues with Nvidia’s GPU supply – we’re told there’s a 20% shortfall in getting stock of the latter.
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The result is that MSI will reduce its low-end gaming laptops by 30%, in order to focus more on mid- and high-end PCs. The simple equation to keep the revenue flowing is to sell fewer devices at higher prices.
Huang said that the PC industry is facing serious challenges and: “This year is the most challenging year since the company was founded” (text translated from Chinese).
In addition to changing priorities with laptops, MSI is changing its motherboards to favor models that support DDR4 memory. While four times as many DDR5 motherboards were previously shipped as DDR4, that situation has completely reversed, so the older standard is now coming off the production lines in four times the quantities of DDR5 boards. This is a quite notable change.
Analysis: Tough times despite some glimmers of hope
As noted at the beginning, VideoCardz noted another update from German tech site 3D Center, which monitors RAM prices in Germany, noting that the price of DDR5 memory fell by around 7% in March compared to February.
That sounds pretty positive and also echoes other observations from the European market last month. However, so that we don’t get carried away, let’s remember that DDR5 RAM continues to quadruple what it cost compared to the September 2025 price, according to 3D Center’s price analysis. The thing is that it has regressed a little, after stabilizing from January to February of this year.
Obviously, it’s nice to witness any kind of downward correction, or simply see that the price of RAM isn’t going up, but there is, of course, a limit to how much prices will go up before most consumers throw their hands in the air and (rightly) simply refuse to buy. Unless they have absolutely no options, that is.
And elsewhere, we’re hearing more grim news about RAM increases, and as MSI makes clear, all of this (and the supply issues around GPU video memory) is making life very difficult for PC makers (or even those building a new computer themselves). Of course, we’ve already heard a lot from companies like HP and other big laptop manufacturers.
However, calling 2026 the “most challenging year” is quite a statement, considering that the 2020 pandemic was a very difficult time for the market (and it’s not the first time we’ve heard this sentiment in the tech industry this year).
Huang predicts a 10% to 20% drop in PC sales this year, while analyst firms are throwing their estimates at a 10% drop by 2026. That’s a best-case scenario as far as MSI’s CEO is concerned, which is worrying to say the least, as is the fact that the budget segment of the PC market will be the hardest hit.
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