AI Demand Drives Ongoing SSD & Memory Shortages: Prices Surging Further into 2026 and Beyond
As we enter 2026, the memory and storage crunch predicted in late 2025 has materialized with even greater intensity. AI data centers continue to dominate global production of DRAM and NAND flash, pushing prices sharply higher and extending lead times across consumer, PC, and enterprise segments. Nearly every analyst firm and memory maker is now warning of looming NAND and DRAM shortages that will send SSD and memory prices skyrocketing over the coming months and years, with some even predicting a shortage that will last a decade. For the better part of two years, storage upgrades have been a rare bright spot for PC builders. SSD prices cratered to all-time lows in 2023 , with high-performance NVMe drives selling for little more than the cost of a modest mechanical hard disk. DRAM followed a similar trajectory, dropping to price points not seen in nearly a decade. In 2024, the pendulum swung firmly in the other direction, with prices for both NAND flash and DRAM sta...
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