An MSI online store listing recently revealed the pricing on the new Intel Arc G3 Extreme-powered Claw 8 EX AI+, which will apparently retail at a whopping $1,799.99, but, in a recent interview with FRVR, MSI product marketing lead, Andy Chu, explained that things are likely to get worse as the ongoing AI-driven DRAM and component shortage worsens. Chu, who said that even he, as an insider, is "unsure of where the market will go," also says that "there's much room for another price hike, at least from my own observation."

According to the executive, handheld sales are stable, and MSI is "confident with the new handheld, not just the new platform," referring to Intel's new handheld-specific G3 CPUs. He also championed the idea of releasing handhelds with expanded capabilities, stating that "it's good timing to take a look at what kind of true potential or the capability of this new handheld can provide us." His argument appears to be that, since handheld prices are high, it stands to reason that they should be more performant and more capable—to his credit, this is a topic that has been discussed online in social media posts and YouTube videos asking whether something like a Lenovo Legion Go or Steam Deck can be used as a desktop PC with an external monitor and a dock, for example.

Recent moves indicate that Valve is planning an imminent launch for the Steam Machine, but more recently, Valve increased the pricing of its existing Steam Deck hardware across the board by as much as $300. Following the announcement of the Steam Deck price changes, notable industry insider, Brad Lynch, who has previously supplied accurate leaks regarding Valve products, compared the updated Steam Deck pricing to what he had heard about the starting price of the Steam Machine. According to the leaker, the planned Steam Machine pricing from two months ago was "still higher than today's Steam Deck prices."

The implication seems to be that the Steam Machine pricing towards the end of March was higher than the current $949 top-tier Steam Deck OLED, and that the current Steam Machine pricing would likely be even higher, thanks to ongoing memory and general hardware shortages and price hikes over the ensuing months. Best-case scenario, Lynch means to say that the Steam Machine's prior pricing was higher than the entry-level 512 GB Steam Deck OLED, which starts at $789. Of course, while there is speculation that the Steam Machine will launch soon, there has been no official confirmation to support this, and the same is true for pricing. Valve has previously said that it would not be pricing the Steam Machine as aggressively as it had priced the Steam Deck initially, but it may be reconsidering that approach if Steam Machine production units start piling up and hardware prices continue to increase.

Even though it looks as though Valve may be preparing for some upcoming large-scale hardware shipments, and it has officially launched the Steam Controller that was slated to launch with the Steam Machine, the gaming giant has yet to even announce a price for the Steam Machine. While we know from a previous statement that this is due to the ongoing RAM shortage, Valve's Steve Cardinali and Lawrence Yang have just addressed the Steam Machine's launch again in a recent interview with PC Gamer. Yang explains that "I mean, obviously we're bummed that this is the state of things. At the very least we're not the only ones in this boat. Like, everyone's kind of figuring out how to overcome these obstacles and challenges—RAM shortages, memory shortages, price hikes, everything."

Despite this somewhat pessimistic outlook, Yang also says that Valve is still aiming for competitive pricing on the Steam Machine: "You know, it's unavoidable that it will impact basically anything we make that has any of those parts in them. So we're doing our best to make sure that we can make the product and have it still available at as good and competitive a price as we can." It also seems as though Valve didn't expect the memory price hikes and shortages to be quite so steep and severe, as Cardinali explains that "you're, like, right there, and then you have this whole challenge thrown at you last minute. It's frustrating. But yeah, we're working our hardest to get resolution there." Yang also commented that, even though it was expected that all three hardware products would launch around the same time, Valve knew that the Controller might launch ahead of the Frame and Machine, stating that "we knew that there was some chance that schedules would move, and we would just ship them when they were ready," and he again confirms that Valve was not prepared to launch the Steam Machine without launching the controller first or at the same time.

Intel is reportedly preparing yet another CPU price hike, adding to the previous increases implemented in February and March. According to the latest research and channel checks from Chinese market research firm Minutes Logic Society, Intel plans to add another price increase to its existing ones. In February, Intel implemented a first round of CPU price increases ranging from 10% to 15%, depending on the segment and SKU. Just a month later, the company introduced another increase in March, around 15%, with earlier reports suggesting a 10% hike for the consumer CPU sector, like the Core Ultra family of CPUs. This time, we are expecting another increase in May across the overall CPU portfolio, meaning that Intel will again raise prices by a few more percent, depending on the CPU sector, whether it is a Core Ultra CPU or a Xeon server processor.

The total cumulative goal for the price hike is about 30% higher compared to 2025 pricing. Interestingly, Intel is facing a significant problem with CPU supply that it can't address immediately. While a large portion of CPU production is internal, with Intel Foundry handling a bulk of orders, some CPUs require TSMC's silicon for Intel to ship these CPUs. Especially with multi-die packaging, where some parts are manufactured on Intel's node and others on TSMC's node, shipping is impossible until every part arrives and Intel assembles it with its advanced packaging.

One could be forgiven for thinking it's an April fools, but alas, Raspberry Pi has announced yet another price hike due to the increasing costs of DRAM. Its CEO, Eben Upton announced in a blog post that the company has seen a seven-fold increase in the cost of LPDDR4 DRAM, which is used in both the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5. All 4 GB and up SKUs of the aforementioned products will see a price hike that ranges from US$25 to US$100. Other products will also see an increase in price and you can find all the price bumps in the table below.

At the same time, the company is launching a new 3 GB SKU of the Raspberry Pi 4, which will launch at US$83.75. The new SKU is available today from all authorised resellers globally. The price increases mean that the 16 GB SKU of the Raspberry Pi 5 now comes in at US$305, which is more than what a lot of mini PCs set you back six months ago. The 16 GB Raspberry Pi 500+ keyboard computer comes in at a whopping US$410, suggesting that some products are unlikely to sell, as they've simply become uncompetitive. The only good news today is that the 1 and 2 GB SKUs for the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 won't see any price hikes this time around, alongside the 4 GB SKU of the Raspberry Pi 400. Raspberry Pi is promising to lower its pricing as soon as the cost for DRAM goes down at some point in the future.

If you've been anywhere near the PC gaming industry recently, you'll have heard time and time again about companies increasing prices or delaying products due to memory shortages and price increases. While those price increases have affected the current-gen gaming consoles, with the PS5 Digital Disc Edition getting two €50 price increases in 2025, leaker @GyoJvfr on X has revealed that steeper price increases for the PlayStation 5 may be on the horizon, courtesy of a retail source.

According to the leaker's source, the entire line-up of current PlayStation hardware—even the PlayStation Portal—will see a price hike "soon," although the leaker does not have an exact price to share. Following the price hike, the PlayStation 5 Slim will cost €649.99, up from €549.99, while the PS5 Pro will increase from €799.99 to €899.99, and the PlayStation Portal will cost €249.99, up from €219.99. It's worth mentioning that it's unclear exactly how widespread the price increase will be, but recent hardware price increases have been global. No price increase was mentioned for the PS5 Digital Slim Edition, but presumably, it will also receive a €100 price increase.

Last week, we reported that Intel is preparing to increase CPU prices by 10% across its client PC sector. However, a new report from Nikkei Asia suggests that AMD is also joining this trend, with plans for a PC CPU price hike as well. Reportedly, AMD Ryzen CPUs could see prices rise by 15% compared to the same time last year, when prices were typically around the MSRP at retailers. Now, as CPU demand has depleted inventories and the focus remains on server and data center CPU production, capacity for the client segment has been significantly reduced, leading to little to no inventory for PC enthusiasts. Large OEMs like HP and Dell are among the first to feel the pressure from the dwindling supply chain and have reported a significant gap between demand and supply for their PC systems.

Nikkei also notes that both AMD and Intel have informed their clients that CPU price increases will take effect by the end of March and into April, which should start to manifest very soon. What used to be a one or two-week wait from order to CPU shipment has now stretched to a process lasting eight to twelve weeks. This means that a CPU batch ordered in April might not arrive until June. This period is expected to be the worst in terms of supply in the second quarter of this year. Even if OEMs are willing to pay extra to secure CPU supply, availability is lacking. The CPU shortage is worsening daily, coinciding with the ongoing memory and storage shortage we are already experiencing.

PC pricing in Taiwan may see a significant increase next quarter, as ASUS Joint Technology Systems Division General Manager Yi-Hsiang Liao has announced a planned 30% price hike across the company's entire product line. He explains that the extremely high costs of DRAM and SSD storage, combined with a shortage of CPUs, are driving this increase. ASUS also claims that this issue is not limited to their company, as every Taiwanese PC maker will face similar challenges. Reportedly, ASUS did not comment on whether the price increase will affect overseas markets or remain exclusive to Taiwan. However, it seems likely that rising component costs in Taiwan will also impact Western markets, which have already experienced significant price increases in recent months.

UDN, Machine TranslatedYesterday, ASUS, in partnership with Qualcomm, held a press conference for its new Zenbook A16 laptop. During an interview, Liao Yi-hsiang, General Manager of ASUS United Technology Systems Business, revealed that ASUS has confirmed that PC prices in Taiwan will increase by 25% to 30% or more in the second quarter, with varying increases across different models.

Intel has reportedly informed its major PC clients of a planned 10% price increase on its consumer CPUs. According to industry sources cited by ET News, this price hike will affect Intel's Core Ultra family of processors, which power hundreds of millions of PCs worldwide. As a result, PC OEMs may need to alleviate the increased material costs by promoting their AI PCs and premium devices more aggressively. To maintain positive margins, these OEMs will likely have to raise prices further and emphasize their higher-end AI PC offerings to capture better margins.

PC gamers have faced challenges over the past year, with memory and storage prices climbing rapidly, reaching exorbitant levels for simple RAM kits. The high demand from data centers has depleted memory and storage inventories months in advance. GPUs have also been affected, as gamers have struggled to purchase them at MSRP, instead facing inflated prices due to the shortage of GDDR memory (VRAM) used in these GPUs. Now, CPUs are joining this trend, with Intel targeting its consumer CPU sector first. This price increase will impact everything from pre-built systems and DIY PCs to laptops and other consumer CPU variants. For example, the 10% increase will significantly affect PC pricing, depending on the CPU's share of the bill of materials. We are waiting to see how these changes will affect popular retailers like MicroCenter, Amazon, Newegg, and others before drawing further conclusions.

Worldwide shipments of desktops, notebooks and workstations in 2026 are expected to decline by 12% to 245 million units, according to the latest outlook from Omdia. This forecast is grounded in sharp increases in memory and storage prices - particularly the expected minimum 60% rise in 1Q26. Further upward price pressure is anticipated throughout the remaining quarters of the year, though subsequent increases are expected to be more moderate. Since 1Q25, the costs of mainstream memory and storage configurations have risen by between US$90 and US$165, placing substantial financial pressure on PC vendors and forcing them to reduce promotions, raise product prices, and adjust configurations. The impact across PC product categories is expected to be broadly consistent. Desktops are set to decline by 10% to 53.2 million units, while laptops will decline by 12% to 192.2 million units.

Considering how quickly the situation is evolving, Omdia has conducted a multi-scenario analysis of the impact. Based on the latest available information and market signals, the forecast carries a higher downside risk, namely a widening of shortages for both memory and storage and increasingly steep price hikes. This could further suppress consumer demand and tighten PC vendors' supply, pushing PC shipments toward a 15% decline or potentially worse. In addition, the recent outbreak of conflict in the Middle East has introduced substantial uncertainty for international transportation and regional market growth, although it remains to be seen whether this situation will persist.

The global notebook market is expected to face dual pressures from weak demand and rising component costs in 2026, according to TrendForce's latest research on the notebook industry. In addition to rapidly rising memory prices, CPU pricing has also begun to move higher. TrendForce estimates that to preserve existing margin structures for both notebook brands and distribution channels, the retail price of a mainstream notebook with an original MSRP of US$900 could rise by nearly 40%.

TrendForce notes that since the start of 2026, supply for notebook DRAM and NAND Flash has tightened significantly. Prices have surged, and shortages of certain components have become more pronounced, increasing uncertainty for notebook brands as they plan their procurement strategies.

In a new letter to channel partners, Lenovo has stated that the company expects PC price hikes in March amid the memory crunch affecting the industry. The letter, obtained by CRN, notes that Lenovo's North America channel chief, Wade McFarland, mentioned there will be some pricing changes to certain products and configurations that Lenovo offers, which will be communicated later with the exact specification changes. In the letter, Wade McFarland noted that there have been some changes to the ordering policy for the Intelligent Devices Group (IDG), responsible for PCs like desktops, notebooks, and tablets, while the Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) unit responsible for server solutions is also experiencing the same changes. Lenovo's North American president, Ryan McCurdy, noted that "we've absolutely had to adjust and continue to adjust [pricing]. There's no way around it."

However, the company has advised its partners to submit orders while it is still February, as that will lock in the pricing at which Lenovo can supply PCs before the price hike expected in March. "Pricing is influenced by both order timing and fulfillment timing, and Lenovo reviews pricing periodically in response to evolving market conditions," notes Wade McFarland, adding that Lenovo's memory suppliers have been good and that the company has been informed of every pricing change in advance so that it can effectively communicate with its clients and warn them before any changes happen. That way, clients don't experience pricing shocks that may impact their purchasing decisions, as Lenovo sells millions of PCs every month. A slight, unexpected price change may result in a significant change in purchasing decisions, so communication with clients is key.

In mid-February, Acer is facing multiple challenges in Europe and Asia. This past weekend, news reports outlined a court-ordered cease and desist ruling that prevents PC and laptop sales in Germany. Last Friday (February 13), the company's Japanese office informed the local customer base about forthcoming price tag changes. Since November 2025, tech companies have wrestled with an extremely constrained supply of vital components. The regional branch's social media account described inevitable hikes: "due to rising prices of major components such as memory and SSDs, Acer will revise the prices of PC products on its official online store starting from February 20, 2026. Purchases at the current prices will be available until February 19. We will continue striving to improve our product value. We appreciate your understanding." The same notification was issued by the firm's gaming brand (Acer Predator/PlayMaster) to local customers. The Taiwanese multinational PC hardware manufacturer's Japanese division did hint about current circumstances not affecting a handful of items; their statement alluded to a non-specific selection of products remaining "unchanged" in terms of asking prices. At the time writing, Acer's other regional operations have not released similar warnings.

Lately, North American customers have shared abject feedback on the internet, regarding frustrating Zotac GeForce RTX 50-series graphics card purchases. Last week, the reported end of NVIDIA's Open Price Program (OPP) likely caused widespread panic amongst hardcore and enthusiast PC DIY communities, leading to swift runs—in-person and online—on multiple retail outlets. The ongoing computer memory crisis has driven up prices across many market sectors—in particular, sharp inclines have affected supplies of GDDR6 and (even more costly) GDDR7 VRAM modules. Sensing a grim near future outlook, Zotac's South Korean office has briefed its local customer about an incoming storm of preposterously epic proportions.

Western news sites were alerted to this sympathetic announcement by harukaze5719—the tenured tracker of tech industry developments summarized part of Zotac SK's message: "(this) current situation threatens the very existence of (add-in-board partners) AIBs and distributors." Earlier today, the South Asian manufacturer's local office issued a major warning, via its official Tagtag Mall account. Starting off, Zotac Korea announced the end of a very minor percentage discount promo: "we recently announced a 2% savings rate. I'm so sorry to be giving you another notice of your savings after only one month. The current situation is so serious that it is worrisome for the future existence of graphics card manufacturers and distributors. They announced that memory supply will not be sufficient and that GPU supply will also be reduced. Additionally, some models will reportedly not be available for some time. Personally, I'm also concerned that it may be impossible for Samsung to secure a smooth supply of GPUs beyond those it can manufacture."

TrendForce's latest survey of the notebook industry reveals that global notebook brands have been grappling with sharp increases in memory prices since 2H25. Entering early 2026, they are now also facing a temporary CPU supply shortfall and price hikes. These challenges are compounded by rising costs for PCBs, batteries, and PMICs, which together are expected to drive global notebook shipments down 14.8% QoQ in 1Q26, falling below brands' original expectations.

TrendForce observes that, depending on the system setup, CPUs generally make up about 15-30% of a notebook's total BOM cost. Currently, most entry-level and mainstream notebooks mainly use Intel processors. However, Intel's recent price hikes on lower-end CPUs and ongoing supply shortages—expected to persist until after March—are adding pressure to product planning and shipment timing.

TrendForce's latest research indicates that AI innovation is causing a fundamental shift in the memory market. As data access volumes continue to grow, AI systems depend more on high-bandwidth, high-capacity, low-latency DRAM to handle large-scale model parameters, long-sequence inference, and multi-task parallel processing. Additionally, NAND Flash has become essential for fast data transfer, making memory a key component in AI infrastructure and a strategic focus for CSPs.

Memory prices have continuously increased due to limited capacity and rising demand for allocations, pushing industry revenue to new record levels. TrendForce projects the memory market to be worth $551.6 billion in 2026 and to surge to a peak of $842.7 billion in 2027, reflecting a 53% YoY growth.

Everyone is aware of the massive memory shortage the industry is currently experiencing, yet prices are reportedly still rising. According to an anonymous Samsung memory distributor, an immediate price hike of 80% has been applied. Later, an employee from the Device Solutions Campus in Giheung, located south of Seoul, confirmed this information. However, we still lack official confirmation from other third-party sources. If the 80% hike is accurate, it will likely apply to the latest batch of contract prices Samsung has imposed on its distributors. As new contract negotiations occur every quarter, it seems the 80% price increase is applied for Q1, given that the effect is noted as immediate.

The scope of this adjustment includes all Samsung memory products, which encompass a diverse range of offerings such as DDR, HBM, LPDDR, and GDDR solutions. These products are used in mobile devices, desktops, embedded systems, graphics cards, AI accelerators, and more. However, since some memory products are supplied directly to Samsung's customers without distributors, it is likely that only certain types of these products will experience a significant price increase, if the reports are accurate. We still have a few weeks left before the trickle-down economics of the supply chain start to manifest, so we will know for sure if these rumors are true.

Update 18:36 UTC: : According to UDN, Samsung has denied these price hikes, claiming that the company has not issued a comprehensive price increase across its memory products.

TrendForce's latest investigations indicate that DRAM suppliers in 1Q26 will continue to reallocate advanced process nodes and new capacity toward server and HBM products to support rising AI server demand. This shift has significantly limited supply in other markets, causing conventional DRAM contract prices to increase by about 55-60% QoQ. Meanwhile, disciplined capacity management by NAND Flash suppliers, along with robust server demand that is displacing other applications, is likely to increase contract prices across all NAND Flash product categories by 33-38%.

Despite weaker notebook shipments and slower growth in memory demand due to potential specification downgrades, PC DRAM prices are still set to rise sharply in the first quarter. DRAM suppliers have simultaneously tightened supply to PC OEMs and module makers, forcing some OEMs to procure memory at higher prices through modules makers. This is expected to raise DRAM suppliers' module pricing and significantly drive up PC DRAM prices.

We recently covered a rumor that ASUS was planning on expanding its DDR4-compatible motherboard production and theorized that it might be a way to offer inexpensive build options to PC gamers in the midst of a growing DRAM shortage that continues to drive the price of DDR5 and NAND through the roof. It seems as though this may have been a correct estimation, as ASUS recently announced (via DigiTimes) a 2026 price hike on SSDs and DRAM kits, which will come into effect on January 5, 2026. While ASUS directly mentions DRAM and SSDs in its announcement, it doesn't specify which products will see a price increase, although it's easy to speculate where the effects will be felt the hardest—laptops, PC builds, smartphones, video cards, and gaming handhelds immediately stand out as victims.

ASUS says the price increase has become necessary after it has been "absorbing and responding to cost pressure over an extended period," and it blames supply chain pressure caused by increased demand from the AI industry for the price increases. This isn't entirely unexpected, and it was one of the potential outcomes industry insiders discussed in a prior rumor that suggested upcoming hardware launches may be delayed as a result of the DRAM shortage. The far-reaching effects of the DRAM crisis may extend to next-gen gaming consoles as well, which have been predicted to be delayed to well after the expected 2028 launch period.

We have already reported on the outsized impact that the AI industry's demand for RAM and the ensuing RAM shortage have had on the PC gaming industry—including everything from price hikes to potential launch delays for next-gen PC hardware products—but now it seems as though console gamers may have to join PC gamers at the back of the line. According to a recent report by Insider Gaming, console hardware makers, likely referring to Microsoft and Sony, are in talks to delay the next console hardware generation.

Originally, the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles were slated to launch sometime in 2027 or 2028, and a new launch window has not yet been revealed, but hardware makers are seemingly considering the delay in the hopes that RAM prices and availability will stabilize ahead of the launch. Currently, brands like Samsung are planning on pivoting some of their NAND production to DRAM, and other makers are scurrying to build out their supply chain to meet demand, but that takes time. We have already seen the RAM shortage impact console makers, with increasing NAND and DRAM prices resulting in slimmer margins, while some brands have had to start considering increasing the retail prices of their hardware.

The modern-day SSD business is divided into two main perspectives: some predict that NAND flash shortages will ease, while others speculate that the situation will worsen. Kingston belongs to the latter group, with the company's datacenter SSD business manager, Cameron Crandall, discussing this on The Full Nerd Network podcast. According to him, the NAND flash shortage is expected to significantly worsen in the next 30 days, leading to an increase in SSD prices from current levels. In 2025 alone, Kingston reports that NAND flash prices have surged by 246% from the first quarter until now, with 70% of that increase occurring in just the last 60 days. This indicates that many price hikes have already been integrated into the supply chain.

Edward Crisler, the PR manager for Sapphire, advised PC gamers and potential buyers not to rush into panic buying. He stated, "The good news is, I don't think the real pain we're experiencing now and for the next six months or so will last much longer than that." However, he also highlighted that the main challenge is the uncertainty of the situation. This uncertainty is causing OEMs to increase NAND flash contracts, where no one besides NAND flash manufacturers can predict what is exactly going on in the supply chain, and just how long the massive demand will outpace supply.

The gaming hardware industry has been in a bit of a state of late as a result of increased demand for DRAM causing a supply shortage and massive price hikes. As a result of the aforementioned issues, Samsung has been rumored to be converting some of its HBM3E and NAND production capacity to DRAM in order to meet demand. The ensuing rumors claimed that Samsung was planning an exit from the NAND, and thus SATA SSD market, as a result of the shift in focus. Micron's recent exit from the consumer space, and the closure of its Crucial memory and SSD brand, lent credence to these rumors, however, these rumors have recently been addressed by a Samsung spokesperson directly in a response to Wccftech. The spokesperson simply said "The rumor regarding the phasing out of Samsung SATA or other SSDs is false," apparently declining to expand any further. However, this is just one indication that the DRAM crisis may not be as long-lived as some have claimed.

Around the same time, in an interview with Hardware Unboxed, Edward Crisler, the PR manager for Sapphire, cautioned PC gamers and potential buyers against panic buying, saying that, "the good news is, I don't think the real pain, that we're suffering now and for the next six months or so, is going to last much longer than that," although he goes on to say that the actual issue at hand is uncertainty of the situation. The implication is that the market will eventually begin to stabilize within the next six to eight months. The implication isn't necessarily that DRAM prices will return to normal, but rather that DRAM supply will eventually catch up to supply. It could also be the case that the massive AI and datacenter boom currently causing the shortages will slow in the coming months, which would also help to stabilize things somewhat. Crisler is careful to note that DRAM prices may still remain somewhat elevated after the market stabilizes, but he seems to be convinced that the sky-high prices we're seeing for consumer memory will fall to some degree and that the gaming industry will adapt to whatever the end result is of the market shake-up.

Framework has published an official company blog post announcing that it is preparing a 50% price increase for its DDR5 memory upgrade configurations. In an effort to remain transparent with customers, the company has stated that it intends to raise the price of DDR5 memory available in Framework Laptop DIY Edition orders by 50%. This decision is a direct response to the significantly higher costs the company is facing from its DRAM suppliers and distributors. As a result, the company cannot absorb all of these cost increases on its own and needs to pass some of them on to the consumer.

The company will not increase the prices of its existing pre-configured systems that include DRAM, as these were acquired at earlier, standard prices. As the memory market becomes more volatile, this might be just the first wave of price hikes, since the company cannot absorb the added costs of new memory orders. Since Framework manufactures various components, from laptops to mini-PCs, the company uses a mix of DDR5, LPDDR5X, and GDDR. All of these are in tight supply due to the AI boom depleting any remaining DRAM inventory.

Industry sources cited by TrendForce say Dell is preparing to implement a 15-20% price hike as early as mid-December. The reason? Obviously, the recent DRAM prices, especially DDR5 that jumped around 70% year-over-year, with certain parts spiking more than 170%. Dell COO Jeff Clarke recently warned that he has "never seen memory-chip costs rise this fast," as component prices surge across the board. The other giant OEM, Lenovo, has begun notifying customers that pricing will rise in early 2026, with all current quotes expiring on January 1 due to accelerating memory shortages and AI-driven demand. Lenovo is advising customers to place orders sooner rather than later, as the next wave of adjustments is only weeks away. Other OEMs, including HP, Samsung, and LG are now rethinking 2026 product plans, particularly around AI PCs and tablets. HP CEO Enrique Lores has also indicated that H2 2026 may require further price adjustments, noting that memory accounts for roughly 15-18% of total PC cost.

TrendForce latest outlook reflects the growing pressure: rising memory prices are increasing Bill of Materials (BOM) costs and forcing brands to raise retail pricing, weakening demand. The firm has cut its 2026 notebook forecast from +1.7% YoY growth to a -2.4% decline. From the consumer point of view, 2026 seems to be a year to forget as pretty much each product category will see prices increased, low availability, and/or new products released with sub-par specifications just to keep the price reasonable. Let us not forget that just two days ago, Micron also shut down its nearly 30-year-old Crucial consumer brand, shifting those resources toward higher-margin AI products.

AMD's rumored price hike at the end of 2025 is becoming a reality, as confirmed by anonymous GPU distributors to Tom's Hardware. The increase is a more modest $10 per 8 GB of VRAM. This means a $10 increase for 8 GB models like the Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB, and a $20 increase for 16 GB models like the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB and RX 9070 / 9070 XT. This adjustment is just half of what was anticipated based on an earlier report from Chinese Board Channels, which suggested AMD was considering a $20 increase for 8 GB models and a $40 increase for 16 GB models.

However, this is not the end of price hikes. AMD is expected to implement another increase in January 2026, though the specifics are currently unknown. Earlier information from Board Channels suggested that gamers might see a price increase of 300 RMB ($42) for 8 GB models and 600 RMB ($85) for 16 GB SKUs. As we approach the final weeks of 2025, these details remain unconfirmed. AMD's AIB partners will pass these increases to customer, who will absorb any additional cost of manufacturing.