What the PC Memory Shortage Is and Why Prices Are Rising
The current PC memory shortage is a supply squeeze in DRAM and NAND where component makers divert high-end chips to AI servers, leaving fewer and pricier parts for notebooks and desktops and driving a broad PC price increase across consumer markets. In Europe, average notebook prices have risen 11.4 percent year-on-year and desktop prices 10.5 percent, as wholesalers and resellers face tighter memory availability and pass higher costs on to buyers. IDC expects average PC prices to rise up to 17.3 percent this year, reflecting both higher memory costs and a shift toward premium systems. Demand pulled forward into the first quarter, as buyers tried to beat expected price hikes, has made the second quarter feel even more painful. With memory makers prioritizing higher-margin high-bandwidth parts for AI servers, the memory shortage impact is set to extend well beyond the current buying cycle.
AI Datacenter Demand Is Driving a DRAM Supply Crisis
AI datacenter demand has created a DRAM supply crisis that is reshaping the PC market. According to IDC, AI datacenters are on track to consume 70 percent of global high-end DRAM output this year, leaving PC vendors to compete for the remaining share. This diversion is why memory costs have more than quadrupled over 12 months and why lead times on advanced semiconductor nodes now stretch to about a year. PC makers are reacting in two ways: raising prices and trimming configurations. Some premium machines now cost hundreds more, while others ship with less RAM than has been standard, including a return to 8GB options that can fall short of new AI features. Larger brands with stockpiles and stronger contracts are partially insulated, but smaller vendors face tighter allocations, fewer SKUs, and pressure to focus on higher-margin models.
Record NAND Revenue Shows How AI Is Starving PCs
The DRAM supply crisis is mirrored in NAND, where AI-centric workloads are driving a historic boom that sidelines PCs. Counterpoint Research reports that global NAND revenue surged 3.5 times year-on-year to reach USD 46 billion (approx. RM211.6 billion) in a single quarter, with enterprise customers—mainly AI datacenters—already accounting for 43 percent of demand and projected to exceed 60 percent by year-end. Those buyers favor high-capacity SSDs for servers, so chipmakers prioritize server-grade NAND over consumer drives. The result is a memory shortage impact that extends beyond RAM to storage, limiting the availability of larger SSDs in mid-range notebooks and desktops and contributing to the broader PC price increase. As companies like Samsung, SK Hynix, Kioxia, and rising players such as YMTC chase this lucrative demand, the consumer PC market sits at the back of the queue for cutting-edge NAND.
PC Shipments Slide as Prices Jump and Supply Tightens
Higher prices and constrained memory supply are dragging down PC shipments even as demand for AI infrastructure explodes. IDC forecasts an 11.3 percent decline in global PC shipments this year, with the fourth quarter potentially seeing a 20 percent year-over-year drop as the supply crunch intensifies. IDC also warns that the memory shortage could last until the end of 2027 and that average PC prices could increase by up to 17 percent this year, deterring many buyers. A Ziff Davis survey found 73 percent of respondents are willing to keep their current devices as long as they work, reinforcing the slowdown. There are pockets of resilience, such as the budget-friendly MacBook Neo at USD 599 (approx. RM2,758), which provides a low-cost option and pressures rivals, but these exceptions cannot offset the broader trend of shrinking shipments and rising average selling prices.
Mid-Range PCs and GPUs Face the Next Wave of Shortages
As AI systems soak up premium memory, the shock is spreading from high-end rigs to mainstream PCs and graphics cards. Notebook price surge data already shows consumers paying more for mid-range machines, while vendors cut RAM or SSD capacity to stay near familiar price points. At the same time, mid-range GPUs, which initially dodged the worst of the crisis, are now running into VRAM shortages as GDDR and other high-performance memory flows toward AI accelerators instead. This convergence of higher component costs and tighter allocations means many gaming and creator PCs ship with less VRAM than expected or arrive late due to delayed builds. Manufacturers are responding by emphasizing premium lines, where higher margins help absorb memory costs, further squeezing value segments and making it harder for price-sensitive buyers to find well-balanced configurations.
