Prices for memory and storage drives on Amazon in the US rose by 85–553% — The National
On Amazon in the US, prices for popular RAM modules and storage drives increased by 85–553%. In particular, a 32GB Corsair memory kit that cost $52 in June 2025 was selling for $250 in September 2026 — approximately 380% more expensive.
As The National reports, an analysis of prices for 18 popular memory and data storage products showed that the cost of every one of them had risen. The price of a 1TB Crucial SSD increased from $100 to $392, while a Corsair DDR5 kit rose from $125 to $550.
Data center demand
The publication links the price increases to the needs of artificial intelligence infrastructure. It requires both DRAM, the working memory used to run applications, and NAND flash, which is used in SSDs, USB drives, and memory cards. High-speed HBM memory, which supplies data to powerful processors running AI models, has become particularly sought after.
Consulting group Bain noted that the reallocation of production capacity toward server products is worsening shortages and raising prices for smartphones and PCs. According to The National's estimate, the five largest cloud companies could spend $780 billion on infrastructure in 2026 — nearly five times more than three years ago. Sales of HBM, according to the cited data, rose from approximately $4 billion in 2023 to an expected $77 billion this year.
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Shortages for consumers
In October 2025, OpenAI announced partnerships with Samsung and SK Hynix as part of the Stargate data center initiative. The company outlined plans providing for the future production of up to 900,000 DRAM wafers per month. In November, Samsung raised prices for certain memory chips by up to 60% compared with September.
According to Keepa, a Corsair DDR5 kit was available on Amazon only 11–21% of the time between November 2025 and February 2026. In the UAE, 11 of 14 tracked storage drives on the Sharaf DG website were marked as out of stock as of October 1, including all internal SSDs in the sample.
IDC expects global PC shipments to decline by 11.3% in 2026, while average computer prices will rise by 18.3%. Deloitte estimates that new plants may not provide a noticeable increase in production capacity until 2029 or 2030.
