Global memory shortages don’t appear anywhere close to ending, and a new outlook from Counterpoint Research suggests the road back to “normal” pricing could be long and expensive for buyers.
Counterpoint’s analysis points to DRAM shortages potentially stretching into the second half of 2027, with the situation possibly lasting even longer if manufacturers can’t close the supply-demand gap. The main reason is simple: demand isn’t easing. In fact, it’s accelerating as the AI boom continues to reshape data center spending and hardware priorities worldwide.
One of the clearest warning signs is pricing. Counterpoint indicates memory product prices have climbed by more than 180%, a sharp increase that signals tightening availability and growing pressure across the supply chain. When prices rise that quickly, it usually means demand is outpacing the industry’s ability to ramp production in the near term.
So what’s driving the crunch? AI infrastructure buildouts are absorbing massive amounts of memory. Large cloud and data center operators are buying at scale, and their orders often include both cutting-edge DRAM and older, still-essential products like DDR4. That legacy demand matters because it keeps pressure on manufacturing lines that might otherwise have shifted capacity to newer standards.
Demand is also coming from multiple directions at once. Hyperscalers remain a major force, but they’re not alone. Custom chip makers, GPU vendors, and the consumer market all compete for supply. Still, the AI segment has increasingly become the dominant customer group since the second half of last year, outpacing other areas. For memory suppliers, that demand is hard to ignore because AI customers typically bring larger order volumes and stronger profit margins.
For businesses and consumers, the takeaway is that memory constraints may persist for many quarters ahead. And as next-generation AI architectures roll out—where memory capacity and bandwidth become even more critical—supply pressure could intensify rather than fade. If production expansion doesn’t happen fast enough, the industry may be looking at elevated DRAM pricing and limited availability well beyond current expectations.
