The drop in the sales volume of personal PCs and servers at the start of 2023 is generating a high level of memory module inventory which will continue to push prices down. Enough to encourage smaller budgets to wait until March-April in order to save as much as possible on RAM… and SSDs!
Unless you have a dire need to build a PC right now, it might be a good idea to wait two or three months to buy RAM for your PC. Prices should indeed fall quite significantly. After already significant drops in 2022 – up to 35% for DDR5 servers! – the trend is still downward for the first quarter of 2023. According to the firm TrendForce, which has just published a study on the subject, DDR4 PC memory should drop by 15-20%, and DDR5 even more, since the range reductions would be between 18 and 23%.
Read also : Why Windows PC sales are collapsing, while Macs are snapping up (Oct 2022)
Given the amount of RAM required by the most demanding applications – we now see games requiring a minimum of 32 GB! –, the impact of such a drop on 32GB/64GB configurations is not anecdotal. When Crucial’s 16 GB DDR5 (4800 MHz, CL40) RAM bar trades around €160, a 20% drop on a 32 GB configuration represents a saving of €64. Or the price of a good quality heatsink+fan like the Be Quiet Dark Rock Slim.
This downtrend affects all types and segments of RAM. The main reason is the slowdown in household equipment – drop in the number of PCs sold – and in the world of servers. If, according to TrendForce, the world number 1 in RAM, Samsung, has prepared as best as it could, the Korean will still suffer in whatanalyst calls CNBC “carnage” of RAM market. To meet the huge demand – which has contributed to the shortage – the manufacturers have heated up the factories… and now find themselves with too much stock on their hands. Going back to the traditional cycle of memory and its ups – and downs! – cyclical. While the trend is down everywhere, not all RAM are in the same boat, modules for smartphones and tablets falling less (10-15%) due to lower initial margins and different (and more controlled) distribution channels ).
And the storage?
What about storage, this memory called “NAND” or “Flash”? Here again, the decline, quite violent in 2022, will continue in 2023. But the manufacturers having already largely anticipated the current period, they calmed down earlier on production. This means that the fall in prices in the first quarter of 2023 should therefore be around 10% to 15%. Combined with that of RAM, this drop in SSD storage should then allow great savings to those who know – or can! – wait until April to build a PC.
While the consumer is always happy about price reductions, it is important to note that while some markets are down, such as memory, others are up, such as processors, graphics chips, image sensors and also batteries. This is why certain products such as smartphones could well see their prices go up while the prices of the various memories fall.
TrendForce
