AI Boom Doubles DRAM Prices, Threatening 6% Drop in Smartphone Sales
Updated
Updated · The Times of India · Aug 3
AI Boom Doubles DRAM Prices, Threatening 6% Drop in Smartphone Sales
2 articles · Updated · The Times of India · Aug 3
Summary
DRAM prices doubled in the first three months of 2026, pushing up phone and computer costs as AI data centers absorb huge amounts of memory.
Deloitte said the squeeze could worsen before year-end, with DRAM prices possibly doubling again after one major supplier shifted output away from regular customers toward higher-paying AI buyers.
Smartphone demand is already weakening: forecasts that initially called for a 2% sales decline now point to a 6% drop as buyers pay more for devices little changed from last year.
PCs are also getting pricier because RAM now accounts for a larger share of their build cost, and new capacity will take billions of dollars and three to five years to come online.
India and other developing markets face the sharpest hit, with costlier devices likely to keep students and workers on older hardware longer and intensify pressure to build local chip and lightweight software capacity.