When Will RAM Prices Drop? Still No Good News — August 2026 Update

We are all waiting for good news from the RAM and disk markets, but I still can't provide any in an August 2026 market update. The latest retail, spot-market, contract-price, and manufacturer data all point in essentially the same direction: the memory market has not yet entered a sustainable price decline. In several parts of the market, August has actually brought another acceleration in prices. 

The clearest example comes from Europe. 3DCenter's August survey of German retail prices puts its DDR5 index at 486% of the July 2025 baseline. In other words, the sampled DDR5 products now cost about 4.9 times as much as before the current memory crisis, representing a cumulative increase of roughly 386%. The same index stood at 445% in July, meaning the average rose another 9.2% in a single month. 

The situation is no longer limited to gaming RAM or consumer PCs. Samsung, in its 2026 second-quarter announcement, says demand for server DRAM, enterprise SSDs, and HBM is expected to accelerate in the second half of 2026, even as supply constraints remain. SK hynix's second-quarter announcement says that expanding AI infrastructure investment is sustaining demand for AI server memory and that both DRAM and NAND prices increased significantly quarter over quarter. 

So, when will RAM prices actually drop?

Our August 2026 base case is that buyers should not count on a broad, sustained decline in RAM prices for the remainder of 2026. Current evidence increasingly points toward 2027 remaining very tight as well, making 2028 a more realistic window for meaningful market-wide relief. That is a forecast rather than a certainty: individual modules may temporarily become cheaper, and a major reduction in AI infrastructure spending could change the picture. But the market data available today do not show that turning point yet. TrendForce currently expects server DRAM prices to keep rising quarter by quarter from the second half of 2026 through the second half of 2027, albeit at a slowing rate. 

RAM prices are still rising in August

The most striking evidence comes from German retail pricing. 3DCenter tracks the cheapest available offers across a basket of DDR5 products and normalizes July 2025 to an index of 100. Its August update shows that the market's brief stabilization earlier in 2026 did not become a lasting reversal. 

The increases are particularly aggressive in larger kits. A 2×32GB DDR5-5600 kit moved from €700 in July to €789 in August, while 2×32GB DDR5-6000 moved from €650 to €789. One 2×32GB DDR5-6400 CL32 category increased from €854 to €1,093 in a month and is now about six times its pre-crisis price. 

This is important because high-capacity RAM is precisely what workstation, virtualization, development and server customers increasingly require.

DDR4 is cheaper, but it has not escaped the crisis either. In the same German survey, DDR4 remained at approximately 3.3 times its pre-crisis price level, while a basic 2×16GB DDR4-3200 kit started at around €208, compared with €393 for 2×16GB DDR5-5600. 

The U.S. tells a similar story. Tom's Hardware's August 17 tracking showed the lowest available prices for a 32GB DDR5-6000 kit at about $392, a 64GB DDR5-6000 kit at about $849, a 96GB DDR5-6000 kit at $1,799, and a 128GB DDR5-6400 kit as high as $3,399. Its PCPartPicker-derived averages put mainstream 2×16GB DDR5-6000 at roughly $572 in August 2026 versus $108 in August 2025. 

That makes August's picture quite clear: there are occasional deals and considerable variation between individual SKUs, but the market as a whole is not falling.

What RAMTrack adds to the picture

A useful European source to watch alongside industry reports is RAMTrack.eu. Instead of concentrating on semiconductor contract pricing, RAMTrack focuses on the retail market and presents price-history views for DDR4 and DDR5 across different capacities. The site states that its prices are averages calculated from hand-picked products on a Dutch price-comparison site and denominated in euros; it provides 3-month, 6-month, 1-year and 2-year history views. 

The site is therefore worth bookmarking rather than viewing a single RAM offer in isolation. During a market as volatile as this one, the question is not simply whether today's module is €20 cheaper than last week's listing. The more important question is whether the broader DDR4 or DDR5 price curve has finally begun to decline.

As of mid-August, broader evidence from across Europe indicates it has not. The 3DCenter retail index jumped from 445% to 486% in August, and TrendForce also reported sharp recent increases in China, including roughly 14.3% week-on-week gains for both DDR5 16Gb and 24Gb chips in early August. 

What the latest BAcloud supplier quotes are telling us

Our own supplier offers provide another perspective because they sit somewhere between semiconductor-level pricing and consumer retail. Recent BAcloud offers received for this update include the following representative parts:

Source: BAcloud supplier quotations received for this August 2026 market update. Prices can vary by quantity, condition, origin, lead time and final confirmation.

Crucial confirms that CP2K16G60C36U5B is its 32GB 2×16GB DDR5-6000 UDIMM kit, while CT2K16G56C46S5 is a 32GB 2×16GB DDR5-5600 SODIMM kit. Kingston identifies KVR56S46BS8-16 as a 16GB DDR5-5600 non-ECC SODIMM, and its server range identifies the KSM56R46 family as DDR5-5600 ECC Registered DIMMs. 

The Crucial DDR5-6000 quote is particularly useful as a cross-check. The Bacloud supplier price of $433 for 32GB is about 24% below Tom's Hardware's August U.S. average of roughly $572 for 2×16GB DDR5-6000, although it remains around 10% above the lowest $392 offer Tom's found. Those numbers are not perfectly comparable because retailer margins, tax treatment, geography, exact timings and purchase terms differ, but they show that the quotation is consistent with today's elevated global market rather than being an isolated pricing anomaly. 

The difference between DDR4 and DDR5 in our offers is also revealing. A 16GB Kingston DDR4-3200 module was quoted at $118, or about $7.38/GB, whereas comparable-capacity mainstream DDR5 offers were roughly $12.94–$15.13/GB. That direction aligns with European retail data, where DDR4 remains materially less expensive than DDR5 despite DDR5 having risen substantially from historic levels. 

Server memory is an entirely different market

The situation becomes much more severe with server DDR5.

Across the additional Samsung, Micron, SK hynix and other server-memory quotations supplied to us, 64GB DDR5 RDIMM-class parts frequently appear around $2,500–$3,400 per module, with several quotes above $3,000. Examples include Samsung 64GB 5600/6400-class modules around $2,985–$3,400, SK hynix 64GB 6400 at $3,240–$3,370, and Micron 64GB 6400 around $2,800.

The 96GB category is similarly expensive: supplier data include 96GB DDR5-6400 modules priced at $3,610–$3,940.

These prices imply something important for server buyers: the nominal MT/s rating is no longer enough to predict the price.

For example, some 64GB 7200/8000 parts in the supplied quotations are around $2,390–$2,540, below certain 5600 and 6400 parts selling above $3,000. In enterprise procurement, exact part qualification, die revision, availability, OEM compatibility, module organization, condition, country of origin and lot size can now outweigh the simple speed rating.

The quotation sheet makes this visible through terms such as pulled, pulled new, brand new OEM, open box, COO-NCN, Non-CN region, Hong Kong stock and varying lead times. A $2,490 pulled module and a $3,400 new or region-qualified alternative therefore should not automatically be treated as equivalent offers.

That increasingly fragmented pricing is exactly what one would expect in a severely supply-constrained market. Samsung says the wider memory market is expected to remain undersupplied in the second half of 2026, even as PC and mobile demand moderates, because server DRAM, HBM, and enterprise SSD demand remains strong. 

Why RAM is not getting cheaper yet

There are several forces behind the current situation, but the biggest one is the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure.

Samsung's newest 2 quorter results indicate its memory business expects robust second-half demand, centered on servers, driven by continued AI infrastructure capital expenditure and broader agentic AI adoption. The company expects demand growth for server DRAM, enterprise SSDs, and HBM to accelerate and says that even with production increases, supply constraints are expected to continue. 

SK hynix essentially provides the same signal as another major producer. In its July 29 results, the company said sustained AI infrastructure investment pushed high-performance AI server products higher in price, while both DRAM and NAND prices increased significantly quarter over quarter. It has also finalized long-term agreements with around ten customers and is discussing further multi-year supply arrangements. 

That shift toward long-term agreements matters. When hyperscalers and major server customers secure capacity years in advance, less supply remains available to flow to module manufacturers, distributors, PC builders, and smaller enterprise customers. TrendForce reported in August that memory suppliers and customers increasingly expect 2027 supply to be even tighter than 2026. 

It also explains an apparently strange feature of today's market: high prices are suppressing consumer demand, but prices are still not falling.

TrendForce's August 19 spot-market update says buyers and sellers remain far apart due to high chip prices, resulting in limited transaction volume. Yet prices still edged upward. Mainstream DDR4 1Gx8 3200MT/s spot pricing increased another 0.67% week-on-week, from $42.61 to $42.90, and TrendForce expects DRAM spot prices to maintain a slight upward trajectory during the third quarter. 

In a normal oversupplied semiconductor cycle, weak transaction volumes would eventually push sellers to cut prices aggressively.

That is not what we are seeing today, as the supply side remains constrained while higher-margin server and AI customers continue to buy. This inference is supported by current spot-market behavior and manufacturers' statements about server demand and limited capacity. 

SSD prices confirm that this is a wider memory shortage

The same pressure is visible in NAND and SSDs, which is relevant because it shows that RAM is not facing an isolated product-cycle problem. Bacloud's latest received offers include:

Source: Bacloud supplier quotations received for this August 2026 update.

Samsung identifies MZ-V9P2T0BW as the 2TB Samsung 990 Pro PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. 

The latest U.S. retail tracker from Tom's Hardware, updated August 18, lists the lowest price for the 2TB Samsung 990 Pro it found at $389. The Bacloud supplier quote of $380 is therefore within about 2% of that current market floor, despite coming from a completely separate procurement channel. Again, taxes, warranty terms, geography and quantities can differ, but the close match is useful validation of how elevated the current market has become. 

More broadly, Tom's current SSD tracker shows a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro at $389, compared to a historical low of $119, and a 4TB 990 Pro at $842, compared to $249 historically. 

The upstream data explain why. TrendForce reported on August 18 that strong AI server demand, particularly for enterprise SSDs, led to a NAND supply shortage during the second quarter. The top five publicly listed NAND suppliers consequently generated $68.87 billion in combined revenue, up 77% quarter over quarter, helped by substantially higher average selling prices. TrendForce expects enterprise SSD demand from AI servers to remain strong in Q3, while suppliers prioritize capital spending on DRAM and HBM, limiting new NAND capacity. 

Even on August 19, NAND spot pricing had not turned meaningfully lower: TrendForce reported the 512Gb TLC wafer spot price rising another 0.39% to $21.208. 

RAM and SSDs are therefore delivering the same message: consumer demand can weaken without triggering a price crash when AI infrastructure continues to absorb constrained semiconductor-memory capacity.

When could individual RAM deals get cheaper?

At any time. Retailers can discount inventory, distributors can receive a favorable lot, exchange rates can move, and particular capacities can become temporarily less constrained. Even in 3DCenter's August data, several mainstream 32GB kits were flat month over month while other capacities rose by double digits. 

This is why tools such as RAMTrack.eu are helpful: they let buyers distinguish a single attractive offer from an actual market trend. 

When could the broad market stop rising?

A plateau could occur before a genuine price decline. Today's signals suggest consumer affordability is already limiting transaction volumes. TrendForce says spot trading is subdued as buyers resist very high chip prices, while Samsung acknowledges partial moderation in demand for PCs and mobile devices. 

If consumer demand weakens far enough, some retail categories may therefore flatten even while server contract pricing remains high.

But as of August 19, that is not yet a market-wide downturn: spot DRAM continues edging higher, European DDR5 retail prices jumped another 9.2% in August, and manufacturers still describe supply as constrained. 

When could RAM prices genuinely fall again?

TrendForce's latest August commentary says server DRAM contract prices are expected to rise 13–18% quarter over quarter in Q3 2026 and that the market remains undersupplied. More importantly, it expects a server DRAM shortage in 2027 and currently projects contract prices to continue rising quarter over quarter from the second half of 2026 through the second half of 2027, although the size of the increases should gradually moderate. 

At the same time, Samsung says second-half 2026 server-memory demand is accelerating and supply remains constrained, while SK hynix is entering multi-year agreements with major customers rather than preparing for a collapse in demand. 

Taken together, our interpretation is that 2028 is currently a more defensible target for a meaningful broad RAM price correction than late 2026 or early 2027. This is an inference, not an industry guarantee. 

For prices to drop substantially sooner, at least one of several things would probably have to change: AI infrastructure investment would need to slow unexpectedly; new DRAM capacity would need to arrive faster than anticipated; manufacturers would have to redirect more wafer capacity away from HBM/server products toward conventional DRAM; or end-market demand would have to deteriorate sufficiently to overcome server demand. Current manufacturer and TrendForce commentary does not indicate that any of those forces has yet become strong enough to reverse the market. 

What should buyers do in the current market?

For buyers who actually need memory during the next few months, trying to predict the exact peak is becoming increasingly risky.

For mainstream PCs, DDR4 can still make economic sense where the platform supports it, because the absolute price gap versus DDR5 remains substantial. In the German August data, 2×16GB DDR4-3200 started around €208 versus €393 for DDR5-5600, and BAcloud's supplier quotes similarly show mainstream DDR4 costing materially less per gigabyte than DDR5. 

For DDR5 desktops and workstations, capacity may now matter more financially than small differences in speed. A 32GB DDR5-6000 kit remains dramatically cheaper than moving to 64GB or 96GB in the current retail market, so buying excess capacity "for the future" carries an unusually high opportunity cost today. U.S. tracking on August 17 showed roughly $392 for the cheapest 32GB DDR5-6000 kit, $849 for 64GB and $1,799 for 96GB. 

For servers, the strategy needs to be different. Check exact qualified part numbers rather than requesting only "64GB DDR5-5600" or "64GB DDR5-6400." The BAcloud quotations demonstrate spreads approaching $1,000 between modules with superficially similar capacity and speed specifications once manufacturer, rank, qualification, origin and condition are taken into account.

Organizations planning larger deployments should also obtain multiple quotations and carefully validate the conditions. A low price for a pulled module, open-box module, OEM-specific version, or used SSD cannot be directly compared with a brand-new, sealed, fully qualified part.

And where infrastructure requirements are fixed, delaying procurement solely in expectation of dramatically cheaper RAM in a few months is currently a speculative strategy. The latest August market evidence supports continued tightness rather than imminent normalization. 

The bottom line for August 2026 is therefore uncomfortable but straightforward:

RAM prices have not started a real decline. DDR5 retail prices are close to five times their pre-crisis level in parts of Europe, server memory remains exceptionally expensive, and upstream suppliers still expect constrained supply. A few products may temporarily become cheaper, but buyers waiting for the whole RAM market to return to 2024–2025 pricing should probably think in years rather than months. 

Our current working outlook: no dependable, broad RAM price drop in the remainder of 2026; 2027 still looks tight; 2028 is the first plausible window for a meaningful market-wide correction, based on the information available on August 19, 2026.