Lenovo declares a 'new normal' for higher memory pricing in the 2030s, while Microsoft forecasts prices to double again in a year | Tech Radar
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Lenovo declares a 'new normal' for higher memory pricing in the 2030s, while Microsoft forecasts prices to double again in a year
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Lenovo has said that RAM prices will likely "never" fall back to pre-crisis levels
The company also predicted a "new normal" for memory pricing from 2030 onwards
Microsoft expects the cost of memory to double in just over a year
If you were hoping we might get to the weekend without any more bad news on the RAM front, that hope is about to be crushed courtesy of Lenovo and Microsoft — and there's a side serving of blame for Apple, too.
First off, as German tech site Computer Base reports (via Wccftech), over at ISC 2026 — the high-performance computing, AI, and quantum conference in Germany — Lenovo said that RAM prices will likely "never" fall back to the pre-crisis levels of a year ago, even after the bolstering of chip production output that's coming (from 2028 onwards).
Lenovo seemingly said "never," accompanied by some on-stage laughter, according to Computer Base, and the tech site (bearing in mind translation nuances) clarifies that this is really referring to the next five years (or maybe a bit more) for the RAM industry, and not an 'absolute' future.
However, the report then goes on to mention that Lenovo sees a "new normal" from 2030 onwards with significantly higher prices than pre-crisis levels — even given increased production.
On top of that, Microsoft just announced hefty price increases for Xbox consoles driven by the RAM crisis. The firm stated, "Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x, and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027."
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Ouch. Microsoft underlined that the memory price hikes are especially painful for console makers, as these devices are typically sold at a (slight) loss, as the revenue is made up in game sales (and subscriptions).
Lastly, Wccftech also spotted that Micron has fired some flak at Apple, although the memory chip maker didn't name Tim Cook's firm specifically, but it's clear enough where the shot was aimed. As Rolfe Winkler, who reports for the Wall Street Journal, explains in a post on X: "Tim Cook says the memory guys are at fault for Apple raising prices. A Micron executive I interviewed last night pointed the finger right back."
Sumit Sadana, who is Chief Business Officer at Micron, informed Winkler, "We told a couple of the customers who were being very aggressive with pricing at that time that this is not constructive." The argument here might be that partners (presumably Apple) pressing Micron on the price of their RAM hurt Micron's bottom line and ability to invest in more production capacity.
Although it's difficult to weigh up the exact meaning of Lenovo's comments on the RAM crisis at ISC, it's clear enough that the PC giant believes the future looks very rocky. At best, pricing looks like it's in trouble until the early 2030s, and there's likely to be a 'new normal' coming into play here for that next decade.
While there appears to be some joking around prices "never" coming back down to the levels they were before the crisis, I think there's a fair chance that they actually won't. When the cost of a product goes up to such an extent as we've seen with RAM (and storage), it's feasible that it won't ever quite normalize. Okay, so maybe we'll see some curveballs that throw things out of whack — like the AI bubble bursting, or at least deflating a good deal — but I'm increasingly doubtful about the prospect of any relief.
Apple warns on RAM pricing and Samsung echoes those sentiments
We may only have a year of the RAM crisis left if ex-Samsung boss is right
RAM crisis reaches new heights — and our only hope is a consumer rebellion
Microsoft predicting a further doubling of memory pricing in not much more than a year is a painful prediction to hear, too.
I'm not going to dive full-tilt into the gloom here, though, because as I've said before, at least in the consumer space, RAM prices can only go so high before a ceiling is hit, which means most people will simply refuse to pay the asking prices. And thankfully, there have also been a couple of glimmers of hope this week: Asus predicted that its products won't be hiked by as much in the second half of 2026 (but they'll still go up), and there was a rumor aired that memory chip giant SK Hynix may switch production away from AI-targeted RAM (HBM) to conventional RAM sticks, at least to an extent.
I wouldn't get swept away with any optimism just yet, though, because for now, as these latest developments in the memory crisis underline, the pervading sentiment around the future remains largely negative.
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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for Tech Radar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).
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