DRAM spot prices doubled last week

Fears that DDR4 has hit the end of the road and the return of tariffs may be to blame

Spot prices for DRAM have doubled in the last week.

Market watcher DRAMeXchange reports (regwalled) that the price for 16GB DDR4 3200 modules moved between $11 and $24 between June 24th and 30th, while some 8GB units moved in a band from $2.80 and $8.00.

DDR5 16G 4800/5600 prices yo-yoed between $4.55 and $9.20, which is weird because DDR5 is newer and faster than DDR4.

So why are some buyers suddenly willing to pay more for old, slow, memory?

Analyst outfit TrendForce spotted several reports that claim major memory-makers are winding up DDR4 production. Japan’s Nikkei reports that Chinese memory-maker CXMT has also decided DDR4’s days are nearly done, and that its move to end production of the memory in 2026 surprised markets.

Buyers are therefore willing to pay for product they feel may not be around for much longer.

Another possible reason is the July 9th end of the USA’s pause on its reciprocal tariff plan, which will see the cost of imports from major memory-making countries such as China and South Korea increase. Perhaps buyers are therefore grabbing all the memory they can get their hands on before tariffs increase.

And fair enough given that the cost of memory can sometimes be the biggest single contributor to the price of a server, and the prevalence of DDR4 in many other devices.

Recent memory price surges don’t necessarily mean hardware prices will soon increase. That’s because spot prices are the amount required to make an immediate purchase of a commodity, and big buyers typically strike long-term deals that allow them to lock in steady pricing.

Buyers are willing to pay spot prices when they are unusually low and they sniff future profits, or because they simply must get their hands on a product and have no alternative but to pay a premium. ®