RAM prices "will never be like last year again," predicts PC maker Lenovo

High PC RAM prices really are here to stay, it seems, as Lenovo is the latest PC maker to admit that it could be years before the AI data center-induced rise in RAM and SSD prices begins to fall. In a recent presentation at ISC 2026, the company stated that RAM prices "will never be like last year again," and while the delivery of this line was made in a somewhat joking manner, the underlying message was clear.

Elaborating on when the best RAM might become more affordable again, Lenovo referred to a "new normal" that could appear from 2030 onwards, although even this is likely to see higher prices than in 2024 and 2025.

More troublingly, the Legion Go maker's prediction already takes into account that production capacity from memory manufacturers is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. The likes of SK Hynix and Samsung are due to open new manufacturing plants as quickly as possible, but demand is expected to be so high that it won't see prices fall.

It's worth noting that RAM prices in recent years, particularly just before the big RAM price increases at the end of last year, were so low that manufacturers were sometimes losing money. As such, a new norm arguably should be at a higher price. However, 32GB of DDR5 RAM going from costing as little as $70 to now typically costing $400 is well beyond what most would consider a reasonable reset.

The news of Lenovo's comments comes from German tech site Computerbase, which reports that Lenovo also gave advice on how to survive the current RAMpocalypse. Talking more specifically about business/server applications, but with advice that's somewhat applicable to PC buyers too, the company explained that buyers should consider their requirements carefully and consider optimizing their operation in other ways before exploring options for how much RAM they need.

In terms of gaming PCs, this could be applied by considering whether you really do need 32GB of RAM, for instance, or whether 16GB is enough. For the last few years, we've recommended opting for 32GB, mainly to provide a bit of headroom, given that RAM prices were so cheap. However, when it comes to gaming, 32GB is still far from necessary, and 16GB is enough to run any modern title at maxed-out settings. You just might need to close every other application on your system so you don't run out of memory, but otherwise you'll be fine.

Conversely, if you're regularly streaming, like to record your gaming sessions, have multiple browser tabs open in the background while you game, or have video editing projects still sitting open in Premiere, that's when you might want to stump up the cash for 32GB or more.