Samsung to Increase DRAM Prices by Another 20 Percent in the Third Quarter
Samsung announced that it will increase DRAM and LPDDR prices in the third quarter of 2026. How will the chip inflation that has been going on since the beginning of the year affect consumers?
Technology giant Samsung is preparing for a new price increase exceeding 20% in LPDDR modules and general-purpose DRAM products, which are critical for both servers and portable devices, in the third quarter of 2026. The South Korean manufacturer continues to maintain the “chip inflation” pressure in the industry, following the sharp increases of 90% in the first quarter of the year and 50% to 60% in the second quarter.
While these constant price increases leave the global consumer electronics market in a difficult situation, they bring concerns that the bottlenecks in the supply chain will not be resolved in the short term.
- Samsung decided to increase DRAM prices by 20% in the third quarter.
- Increases totaling more than 150% accumulated in the first two quarters of the year, pushing costs to record levels.
- SK Hynix follows a more stable price policy thanks to the artificial intelligence-based HBM products it focuses on.
- Since the 800 billion dollar capacity increase project is spread over the next decade, a price decrease is not expected in the near future.
Samsung Continues Its Aggressive Price Policy in the New Era
According to reports by South Korea-based ZDNET, Samsung aims to raise prices by 20% on a quarterly basis in its negotiations with DRAM customers.
This strategy of the company creates great cost pressure, especially on server and portable device manufacturers. While rival SK Hynix offers a more predictable price structure thanks to its high demand for HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) products and long-term agreements, Samsung’s large stake in the volatile commodity DRAM market causes price changes to occur more frequently.
This constant rise in DRAM costs directly pushes up the prices of the latter consumer products.
Long-Term Contracts Shape the Market
Although the share of long-term agreements (LTA) is gradually increasing in the sector, this does not bring the expected relief in prices. On the contrary, these agreements often create a price floor in the market, eliminating the possibility of a decline.
Contract prices for critical components, especially LPDDR5X 12GB, have increased by approximately $68.8 since the beginning of the year, reaching $145. This situation significantly narrows the profit margins of technology manufacturers.
Capacity Increase Plans Offer Long-Term Solutions
Samsung and SK Hynix are implementing a massive $800 billion investment plan with the aim of increasing memory chip production capacity. However, since this massive undertaking spans the next ten years, it is not expected to provide immediate relief to the market. Current production bottlenecks continue to trap technology companies in costly supply chains.
This inevitable increase in memory prices is expected to have profound effects on the technology world by the end of 2026.
How much do you think Samsung’s aggressive price increases will affect smartphone and computer prices? You can share this situation in the memory market and its reflections on technological products with us in the comments section.
