The production of DDR5 RAM has run into the shortage of components. So much so that it is already difficult to obtain bars, scalpers do not hesitate to resell them at prohibitive prices. Good news, the price of DDR5 RAM is about to drop. Except that this should have a minimal impact on the average price of the modules, for the moment.
By 2023, DDR5 RAM will be found in a majority of computers and smartphones. The new standard of ultra-fast random access memory still needs to be produced in sufficient quantity. While it has only just entered the hardware market, DDR5 RAM is already nowhere to be found. Blame it on the shortage of power management integrated circuits that drastically slows down production.
As a direct consequence, smart people do not hesitate to speculate. Scalpers resell DDR5 RAM sticks in particular at exorbitant prices on eBay. In its latest report, however, TrendForce estimates that the price reductions for DDR4 and DDR5 RAM will be respectively 5 to 10% and 3 to 8% at the start of 2022 compared to the previous quarter.
Also read: Corsair Confirms DDR5 RAM Generates Much More Heat Than DDR4
DDR5: when will prices drop significantly?
As the prices of mobile DRAM begin to decline, manufacturers have started to reallocate some of their production capacity towards manufacturing DDR5 and DDR4 RAM for PCs. Hence the fact that prices are about to drop slightly.
On the other hand, the average selling price of the bars should not decrease significantly, at least initially. According to TrendForce, this is due to “Low penetration rate”, 12th generation Intel Core Alder Lake processors only available since early November. Customers can also always choose to opt for a DDR4 module on their motherboard.
When vendors start ramping up DDR5 RAM production and Intel floods the market with additional Alder Lake processors, that should change. Also, the switch could take place when AMD Zen 4 processors are in the news.
Source: TrendForce
