---
title: "The Era of Cheap Memory is Over: Lenovo Forecasts Steady Chip Price Growth Until 2030"
description: "Lenovo forecasts that memory shortages and the AI boom will keep chips expensive until 2030 📉🤖. DRAM prices have already doubled, and manufacturers are redirecting capacity to servers, ignoring the consumer sector. Prepare for price hikes on laptops and PCs 📈💻"
date: 2026-06-27T23:16:45.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/the-era-of-cheap-memory-is-over-lenovo-forecasts-steady-chip-price-growth-until-2030
tags: []
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# The Era of Cheap Memory is Over: Lenovo Forecasts Steady Chip Price Growth Until 2030

![DDR4 RAM module on a red motherboard — symbol of rising chip prices per Lenovo’s forecast until 2030](https://xab.info/media/2026/06/27/lenovo-prognoz-defitsit-pamyati-i-tsena-na-chipy-do-2030-goda/lenovo-prognoz-defitsit-pamyati-i-tsena-na-chipy-do-2030-goda-1.webp)

Chinese tech giant Lenovo Group Ltd. presented a worrying forecast for the industry at the ISC 2026 International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg. According to the published report, the global electronics economy has entered a new phase where the current semiconductor memory shortage will become the "new normal." Corporate experts state that a return of prices for DRAM and NAND flash storage to early 2025 levels is unlikely at least until 2030.

### Structural Imbalance: Why Chips Are Getting More Expensive

An analysis of supply chains conducted by Lenovo's planning department points to a fundamental shift in the balance of supply and demand. Market statistics for the first quarter of 2026 demonstrate unprecedented dynamics: wholesale prices for contract DRAM memory for PCs hit a historical record, more than doubling. The NAND flash memory segment showed an equally impressive growth of 55–60%.

The main driver of this situation has been the redistribution of silicon wafers to meet the needs of artificial intelligence. Major component manufacturers — Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology — are repurposing 40% to 70% of their production capacity for the release of high-performance high-bandwidth memory (HBM3e/HBM4) for data centers. This decision sharply reduces the volume of standard chips for consumer electronics, such as DDR5 and GDDR7.

### Production Inertia and Margins

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that new production capacity cannot quickly compensate for the shortage. Despite statements by SK Hynix Chairman Choi Tae-won about plans to double output volumes within five years, new factories will not begin to impact the market before 2028. Until then, demand from the AI segment will completely absorb any new supply volumes.

Furthermore, the economic motivation of manufacturers does not contribute to price reductions. According to financial institutions, operating margins in the standard DRAM segment in 2026 approached 90%. Such super-profits discourage vendors from lowering ex-factory prices, even in the presence of temporary fluctuations in demand.

### Consequences for the Market and Consumers

The change in the memory price baseline will inevitably transform into the increased cost of finished products. Lenovo has already notified its partners of the forced adjustment of price lists for laptops, desktop PCs, and server stations. Similar trends are being recorded by other industry leaders.

Specifically, Microsoft disclosed in its report that the cost of memory and storage for game consoles and portable devices has increased by more than 2.5 times. By autumn 2027, a further doubling of costs is expected, which has already forced companies to conduct a re-indexation of retail prices.

In the budget segment, vendors will be forced to maintain psychological price limits solely by retaining minimum memory configurations (8 GB RAM and 128/256 GB ROM). For those accustomed to upgrades and DIY PC assembly, this means the need to multiply budgets. The large-scale modernization of AI infrastructure has effectively eliminated previous market self-regulation mechanisms, locking consumer memory chips into a shortage status for many years.