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Nikkei Asia has some bad news for anyone expecting RAM prices to drop soon: The outlet reported this on Friday<\/a> The global shortage of memory chips is likely to continue until approximately 2027. According to Nikkei, US and South Korean memory suppliers are increasing DRAM production, but will only be able to meet 60% of demand. Furthermore, the current conflicts in the Middle East are making electricity and other relevant commodities more expensive. Even Samsung, which is launching a fourth RAM plant this year, won’t begin full-scale production until at least 2027, if not later. <\/p>\n Part of the problem is divided production requirements: Samsung’s fourth plant also needs to make logic chips for computing, meaning it can’t use all of its resources to develop memory chips. And while the company is also building a fifth plant, that space will be designated for the production of advanced high-bandwidth memory (HMB), a specific type of memory used for AI semiconductors. This could reduce demand for more general-use RAM, but Nikkei reports that this fifth plant won’t start running until 2028 or later. Nikkei reports that memory prices have risen 90% in the quarter compared to the first three months of this year.<\/p>\n One silver lining, however: SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, is currently producing HMB chips, and has been since February. SK Hynix is \u200b\u200bon track to start production at a new plant in Seoul by February 2027, three months earlier than previously estimated. That said, Nikkei says this is the only production increase among the big three memory companies, which include SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron Technology (based in the US). For its part, Micron will begin production in both Idaho and Singapore in 2027. Collectively, these three companies control 90% of global DRAM, and are the only companies that can make HBM.<\/p>\n Nikkei cites Counterpoint Research, which estimates that these companies will need to increase production by 12% per year through 2027 to fix the RAM shortage. Right now, it is reported that growth appears to be around 7.5%. In such a situation, the situation will not become normal till next year. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What do you think so far? This news is disappointing, especially after the positive developments at the end of March. At that time, we saw a slight drop in RAM kit prices \u2013 still well above historical lows, but a $30 to $45 reduction at a time when the biggest AI companies on the planet were buying up as much RAM as possible. But after Nikkei’s reporting, general prices will not fall (or stop rising) for at least the next year and a half.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, this implies Everything <\/em>Which uses RAM, not just RAM. While those who build or work with computers will see pressure on RAM hardware, there is a long list of consumer devices that will continue to be affected here as well. Smartphones, laptops, smart glasses, tablets, gaming consoles, cars: if it runs on a computer, it uses RAM. With market volatility around the world, the prices of the equipment you purchase are also expected to increase. Probably due to this storm Sony had to do this Increase prices on PlayStation consoles and handhelds<\/a>For example. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nmemory crisis continues<\/h2>\n
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\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nLack of RAM affects everything<\/h2>\n