Traditional DRAM and NAND flash memory prices both reached multi-year highs in July, as AI servers continue to commandeer storage capacity, tightening supply for traditional PC and consumer electronics memory chips. The memory chip price rally shows no signs of abating.

According to data from TrendForce's DRAMeXchange, cited by Yonhap News, the average contract price of a benchmark PC DDR4 8Gb DRAM chip rose to $24 in July, a sequential increase of 14.3%, marking the highest level since statistics began in June 2016. Meanwhile, the average price of a 128Gb MLC NAND chip reached $30.05, breaking through the $30 mark for the first time.

TrendForce predicts that demand from AI servers and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) will continue to squeeze traditional DRAM production capacity, with DRAM supply tightness potentially persisting until 2027. In contrast, the NAND market is expected to see a gradual improvement in supply from the second half of 2027 as new capacity comes online.

DRAM prices have doubled year-to-date, while NAND has accumulated gains of over 200%. The price of DDR4 8Gb has accelerated its rise this year, climbing from $11.5 in January to $24 in July, a cumulative increase of approximately 109%. Notably, prices surged from $16 to $20 between April and May, and continued to set new historical highs in the third quarter.

The NAND price rally has been even more pronounced. The average price of 128Gb MLC NAND rose from $9.46 in January to $30.05 in July, a cumulative increase of about 218%. Citing data, Yonhap noted that some SLC NAND products saw a month-on-month price increase of 35% to 51% in July, significantly outperforming MLC NAND's 4% to 8% gain. With over a year of price hikes having substantially raised procurement costs, TrendForce pointed out that downstream customers are becoming more cautious in their purchasing attitudes.

The core driver of this price rally remains on the supply side. With the rapid growth in demand for AI servers, memory manufacturers are continuously prioritizing capacity for higher-margin products such as HBM, server DRAM, and high-layer 3D NAND, leading to a sustained contraction in supply for traditional PC DRAM and mature-node NAND.

TrendForce expects that server products will continue to absorb DRAM capacity in the future, further tightening PC DRAM supply. Although price increases in laptops are beginning to dampen end-user demand, suppliers still hold the advantage in price negotiations.

A similar trend is evident in the NAND market. As manufacturers increasingly allocate capacity to enterprise SSDs and high-layer 3D NAND, supply for traditional NAND products remains constrained. Among these, low-inventory SLC NAND faces the most severe supply-demand imbalance, with its price performance clearly outstripping that of MLC products. SLC NAND is widely used in sectors such as automotive electronics, network equipment, and industrial control.