Morgan Stanley and Bank of America report significant price surges across the memory market. DDR5-5600/6400 24GB spot prices rose 8% in August 2026, reaching nearly $47 per chip. This represents a 483% year-over-year increase from the $8 price seen in mid-2025.
Analysts project further hikes for legacy components. DDR4 prices are expected to jump 50% in Q3 2026 and 10% in Q4. Similarly, SLC NAND prices are forecasted to increase by 50% in both Q3 and Q4 2026 as manufacturers shift capacity toward advanced hardware.
The supply crunch stems from a pivot to HBM, which uses triple the silicon wafers of standard DRAM. With NVIDIA projected to consume 25.1 billion Gb of the industry's 61.5 billion Gb HBM total by 2027, production for DDR5 and high-layer NAND remains tight.