Reports from korean and taiwanese outlets describe mounting pressure across the pc hardware supply chain as DRAM, NAND, and NOR Flash prices climb. korea economic daily says NVIDIA, AMD, and other graphics card makers are weighing removal of some mid-to-high-end gaming cards because memory now accounts for an unusually large share of total component cost. taiwanese brands including ASUS are reportedly exploring reduced memory configurations for upcoming systems to limit bill-of-material increases.
trendforce warns manufacturers may shift production toward lower-margin models or raise prices broadly to cope with higher component costs, and commercial times says memory alone could add nearly NT$3,000 (about US $96) to basic office pcs next year. with most modern pcs, laptops, consoles, tablets, and phones now shipping with at least 16 gb of ram, further price spikes or supply disruptions could force major brands to cut orders, delay launches, or pass costs to consumers through higher retail pricing.
commercial times additionally reports some motherboard makers and notebook odms have paused new motherboard development or mass production as supply tightens. DDR4 is becoming especially scarce as suppliers accelerate phase-outs and reallocate mature-node capacity toward HBM and DDR5. wj capital perspective estimates a DDR4 shortfall of around 70,000 wafers by the end of 2025 and says 2026 is unlikely to see a full recovery. demand for NOR Flash is also rising, driven by Artificial Intelligence servers, and commercial times notes NVIDIA’s GB200 NVL72 system already uses more than US $600 of NOR per rack, possibly reaching $900 within two years. the situation follows earlier reports that AMD is preparing GPU price increases and that Samsung has raised memory prices by up to 60 percent amid tight supply.
