Samsung is raising RAM and flash memory prices over AI boom

After SanDisk and Micron, now memory juggernaut Samsung has notified OEMs that it will be raising the price of its LPDDR4X and LPDDR5X chips, as well as the price of UFS and eMMC flash storage products.

While SanDisk announced a 10% MSRP bump for its memory products, Samsung starts from that same surcharge for its storage chips and goes up to a 30% price increase for the LPDDR5X memory chips found in popular flagship phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 that is now $300 off on Amazon, but also tablets and even laptops.

The confident move is attributed not only to the fall launch of new and popular mobile devices, but also to the increased demand for data centers powering the AI revolution, as well as GPU memory chips. The graphics DRAM that used to go mainly into consoles or gaming cards is now being cannibalized by server GPUs running machine learning algorithms thanks to the billions in AI-powered feature investments by virtually all major tech companies.

The memory price increase by Samsung, SanDisk, Micron, and others, has been predicted since the spring even as prices fell due to an inventory glut then. The next quarters saw some stocking up on chips to preempt reciprocal tariffs during the 90-day grace period, on the one hand, and a drawdown in inventories due to the increased pace of new product launches, on the other, premeditating the current memory price increase announcements.

The DDR4 memory inventory bust and the rapid pace of AI data center builds or upgrades that require a lot of enterprise-level SSDs have contributed to the price increase, with demand currently outpacing supply, according to industry analysts. The trend is forecast to continue well into next year, and might see the prices of smartphones, laptops, or SSDs rise accordingly to reflect the demand increase.