The PC component crisis isn't going away: retail market for SSDs has 'almost disappeared' we're told, and DDR5 RAM prices refuse to drop | Tech Radar

Overview

News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets

Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more

Details

Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards.

Unlock instant access to exclusive member features.

Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.

The PC component crisis isn't going away: retail market for SSDs has 'almost disappeared' we're told, and DDR5 RAM prices refuse to drop

At least DDR4 prices are easing, but not by much in the big picture

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Nelson Duann, an exec in the SSD supply chain, has said: "The retail SSD market has almost disappeared"

DDR5 RAM prices refuse to drop, although older memory modules are easing in price, but only very slightly

System memory remains massively overpriced, and the same is true with many SSDs – and even hard drives are becoming more costly now

There's more news about the PC component crisis, in terms of SSDs – and how the retail market for drives is seemingly disappearing – and RAM pricing too, which is showing signs of easing a little in some respects, the notable catch being that this isn't the case with DDR5.

Tom's Hardware interviewed Nelson Duann, who is a VP at Silicon Motion, one of the major forces in terms of SSD controller manufacturers, with the exec observing that: "The retail SSD market has almost disappeared."

Duann elaborated: "The controllers we sell to module makers are now largely ending up in SSDs that are shipped to PC OEMs. The reason is that OEMs cannot obtain enough NAND directly from memory manufacturers, so they are increasingly sourcing SSDs from module makers instead."

What Duann is saying is that with such a great demand from data centers these days, the retail market – meaning SSDs in boxes on shelves (virtual or physical) – is shrinking to the point of vanishing. Drives are going to data centers or PC makers, so the selection available to consumers is very much dwindling.

On the RAM front, Notebookcheck.net highlighted a report from 3D Center which examines component prices in the German retail market for June, including memory and SSDs.

Trend Force report sparks hope that we might be turning a corner in the RAM crisis

DDR4 RAM price falls — but don't get carried away with any optimism yet

Hold your horses — it's still not time to buy RAM despite price drops

The price of DDR5 RAM sticks remained essentially level compared to June (they were up 1%, so next to nothing). With DDR4 and DDR3, prices actually dropped a bit – to the tune of just under 7%. With SSDs, pricing pretty much stayed level, with a slight increase of just over 1%.

In the German market, memory pricing does appear to have held pretty much stable over the last few months. Or, to look at it another way, system memory has stayed exorbitantly priced throughout this year, still sitting at a level which is 400% more expensive than before the RAM crisis kicked in.

SSD prices have been stable for the last few months too, the difference being they went up in the first quarter of 2026, whereas RAM pricing actually fell (from a peak of 440%, believe it or not).

As ever, bear in mind that this is the German market – and just one source of stats – but it's at least not terrible news in that some folks have been predicting RAM could actually get pricier again as this year progresses. That could still happen, of course, but it doesn't appear to be doing so yet.

Based on the comments from Duann at Silicon Motion, mind you, we might expect SSD prices to start edging upwards again. If a prominent executive within the supply chain is talking about the retail SSD market 'disappearing', that must be a concern. It's worth noting that hard drive prices are now creeping up, too, based on 3D Center's stats – they are 58% pricier than they were a year ago, compared to 34% last month (and just a 14% increase back at the start of 2026).

For now, we'll keep watching these price tags and accepting the reality that there isn't much we can do about the situation – except refusing to pay massively inflated mark-ups. There is, of course, a line where consumers will do exactly that (in the main) which should theoretically keep a hard ceiling on RAM and SSD price hikes.

Meanwhile, given all this, if you can find a good deal on storage in the Prime Day sales next week, it might well be worth jumping on (especially in the case of larger SSDs, or external hard drives).

Follow Tech Radar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

➡️ Read our full guide to the best laptops

Best overall: Apple Mac Book Air 13-inch M5
Best budget: Apple Mac Book Neo
Best Windows 11 laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch
Best thin and light: Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i
Best Ultrabook Asus Zenbook S 16

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).

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

1 Roblox begins global rollout of age-based accounts for better child safety

2 Oracle slams report claiming a massive Microsoft cloud deal collapsed as 'inaccurate'

3 Tech gadgets guaranteed to arrive in time for Father's day 2026

4 Netflix shares trailer for Heartstopper Forever, with new interactive feature for fans

5 Massive VPN surge hits India as government blocks Telegram over exam fraud

Tech Radar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Key Takeaways

News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more
Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards
Unlock instant access to exclusive member features
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards