PC, smartphone costs to rise by as much as 8% as AI drives reminiscence scarcity — analysis agency

Analysis agency IDC says ‘main reminiscence makers have shifted manufacturing towards reminiscence utilized in AI knowledge facilities, resembling high-bandwidth reminiscence and high-capacity DDR5’

MANILA, Philippines – A worldwide scarcity of reminiscence chips, propelled by surging demand from synthetic intelligence (AI) knowledge facilities, is anticipated to push up the typical promoting costs of private computer systems and smartphones in 2026, mentioned analysis agency IDC.

The reminiscence market — which incorporates DRAM and NAND flash utilized in on a regular basis gadgets — is dealing with an imbalance as manufacturing capability shifts towards AI-oriented parts.

DRAM is fast-access reminiscence that computer systems use to run applications and functions. NAND flash is storage reminiscence for saving photographs, paperwork, and all different recordsdata. The manufacturing for each varieties is anticipated to be affected by the rising demand of AI knowledge facilities.

The IDC defined: “As a substitute of increasing typical DRAM and NAND utilized in smartphones, PCs, and different shopper electronics, main reminiscence makers have shifted manufacturing towards reminiscence utilized in AI knowledge facilities, resembling high-bandwidth reminiscence (HBM) and high-capacity DDR5. This has restricted the availability of general-purpose reminiscence modules and pushed up costs throughout the board.”  

Reminiscence manufacturing capability is being reallocated.

As a substitute of allocating provide of typical reminiscence utilized in shopper gadgets, producers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron — the world’s three largest reminiscence makers — have shifted manufacturing towards reminiscence modules that serve AI servers and hyperscaler knowledge heart infrastructure.

“This can be a zero-sum recreation: each wafer allotted to an HBM stack for an Nvidia GPU is a wafer denied to the LPDDR5X (DRAM) module of a mid-range smartphone or the SSD (NAND) of a shopper laptop computer,” the IDC mentioned.  

This shift has tightened the supply of DRAM and NAND for smartphones and PCs, driving up element costs.

For smartphones, reminiscence usually constitutes a good portion of the invoice of supplies, particularly in mid-range gadgets. As reminiscence prices rise, smartphone makers might have little selection however to extend costs, lower reminiscence specs, or each. The IDC’s draw back situations recommend common smartphone promoting costs might rise 3-5% in a average case or as much as 6-8% in a “pessimistic situation.”

Within the PC market, the reminiscence scarcity converges with the transition to AI-enhanced PC techniques and the top of legacy software program help cycles, particularly Home windows 10. Main distributors have signaled broad worth will increase, and underneath the IDC’s situations, common promoting costs for PCs might additionally climb 4–8% in 2026.

“The severity and length of the scarcity can be decided by how rapidly manufacturing capability can develop and the way successfully demand rebalances throughout segments,” the IDC mentioned. – Rappler.com