Tom's Hardware: DDR5 Memory Prices Climb 500% in 12 Months as HBM Reallocation for AI Cannibalizes Commodity DRAM

Tom's Hardware reports DDR5 prices have climbed roughly 500% in the past 12 months, with a 128GB kit now at $3,399 — up to 10x the lowest previously tracked prices. Analysts tie the spike to memory manufacturers redirecting wafer output from commodity DDR5 to higher-margin HBM stacks for AI data centers, a shift that removes roughly 3x the equivalent DRAM from the market for every wafer reassigned to HBM. SK Hynix's CEO has warned 2027 will be the industry's worst-ever memory-supply year.