DRAM price explosion could make smartphones and mid-range GPUs more expensive

More expensive VRAM could spell trouble for more or less affordable graphics cards such as the Intel Arc B580 with 12GB (from $249 on Amazon) or the Radeon RX 9060 XT and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, both of which come with 16GB VRAM. According to a new report from the Korean outlet Hankyung, wholesale DRAM prices skyrocketed by 137% in the past month alone.

Prices are currently expected to keep rising through 2026. This is mainly because DRAM demand from AI companies like OpenAI continues to grow, while DRAM manufacturers such as Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix won’t be able to quickly ramp up their production capacity in the short term. This trend will likely lead to higher prices for smartphones, tablets and laptops. The impact of rising DRAM prices is particularly dramatic for graphics cards, since graphics memory accounts for a relatively large portion of total production costs.

For this reason, Nvidia has reportedly already scrapped the entire GeForce RTX 5000 Super series, because the graphics cards would have become too expensive with the 50% more VRAM. TrendForce expects AMD, Nvidia and Intel to reduce the production of mid-range and entry level graphics cards and raise prices, since they would otherwise no longer be profitable due to the rising memory costs. Some sources even claim that some lower priced GPUs could be discontinued, as we reported earlier today. The AI boom is therefore directly affecting the gaming market, which is expected to focus more than ever on higher priced products next year.