[]
The RAM crisis appears to be getting considerably worse right now, based on memory pricing in one country anyway — and we’ve also had some bad news from a big chip maker.
First off, RAM pricing in Germany is what’s been under the microscope courtesy of 3D Center (via Wccftech), which regularly takes the temperature of the market in the country, finding that July has seen a notable price hike.
This is for DDR5 RAM at retailers in Germany, and prices are now at an incredible 448% more costly than a year ago (before the memory crisis kicked off). Pricing had been at 440% at the start of 2026, but then dropped to 408% in March, and stayed at that level in April, before climbing back to 419% in June.
Latest Videos FromTechRadar
However, this latest move to 448% represents a bigger leap, and an all-time high for the German market.
As for the bleak news from the chip maker, that’s TSMC which is going to raise the cost of its chip production by up to 10% next year, according to a report by Nikkei Asia (as flagged by PC Gamer).
You may like
The reason for TSMC having to hike prices is said to be the rising cost of materials and the equipment for manufacturing chips, as well as the need to fund expansion plans for more fabrication facilities (or fabs, as they’re known).
Bigger premiums will be lumped onto those ordering high-end chips (high-performance computing or HPC silicon) from TSMC off the cuff (on top of existing orders), and in these cases there could be up to a 15% hike.
{ window.reliablePageLoad.then(() => { var componentContainer = document.querySelector(“#slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-nE4ryPuM5uA7vsLXcCybEN”); if (componentContainer) { var data = {“layout”:”inbodyContent”,”header”:”Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox”,”tagline”:”Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.”,”formFooterText”:”By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.”,”usDisclaimerFooterText”:”By signing up, you agree to our Terms of services and acknowledge that you have read our Privacy Notice. You also agree to receive marketing emails from us that may include promotions from our trusted partners and sponsors, which you can unsubscribe from at any time.”,”successMessage”:{“body”:”Thank you for signing up. You will receive a confirmation email shortly.”},”failureMessage”:”There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.”,”method”:”POST”,”inputs”:[{“type”:”hidden”,”name”:”NAME”},{“type”:”email”,”name”:”MAIL”,”placeholder”:”Your Email Address”,”required”:true},{“type”:”hidden”,”name”:”NEWSLETTER_CODE”,”value”:”XTR-D”},{“type”:”hidden”,”name”:”LANG”,”value”:”EN”},{“type”:”hidden”,”name”:”SOURCE”,”value”:”60″},{“type”:”hidden”,”name”:”COUNTRY”},{“type”:”checkbox”,”name”:”CONTACT_OTHER_BRANDS”,”label”:{“text”:”Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands”}},{“type”:”checkbox”,”name”:”CONTACT_PARTNERS”,”label”:{“text”:”Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors”}},{“type”:”submit”,”value”:”Sign me up”,”required”:true}],”endpoint”:”https://www.techradar.com/.newsletter-subscribe/v2/submission/submit”,”analytics”:[{“analyticsType”:”widgetViewed”}],”ariaLabels”:{}}; var newsletterForm;(()=>{var e={757:(e,t,n)=>{e.exports=n(666)},363:(e,t,n)=>{“use strict”;function r(e,t){(null==t||t>e.length)&&(t=e.length);for(var n=0,r=new Array(t);nj});var a=n(651),i=n.n(a),l=function(e){if(“undefined”!=typeof document){var t=document.cookie.match(“(^|;) ?”.concat(e,”=([^;]*)(;|$)”));return t?t[2]:null}return null};function c(e,t,n){return t in e?Object.defineProperty(e,t,{value:n,enumerable:!0,configurable:!0,writable:!0}):e[t]=n,e}function u(e,t){var n=Object.keys(e);if(Object.getOwnPropertySymbols){var r=Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(e);t&&(r=r.filter((function(t){return Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(e,t).enumerable}))),n.push.apply(n,r)}return n}function s(e){for(var t=1;t-1&&”email”===(null==g?void 0:g.toLowerCase())&&_(“text”),”hidden”===(null==u?void 0:u.toLowerCase())&&t&&(y((function(e){return s(s({},e),{},c({},t,n))})),”COUNTRY”===(null==t?void 0:t.toUpperCase()))){var e=l(“FTR_Country_Code”)||l(“FTR_User_Defined_Country_Code”)||void 0;y((function(n){return s(s({},n),{},c({},t,e))}))}}),[]);var b=i().createElement(“input”,{“data-hydrate”:!0,type:g,className:”form__”.concat(u,”-input “).concat(h),value:n,name:t,required:v,disabled:p,placeholder:f,autoFocus:w,onChange:function(e){if(“submit”!==u){var t=e.target,n=t.name,r=t.value,o=t.checked;y((function(e){return s(s({},e),{},c({},n,”checkbox”===u?o:r))}))}}});return r?i().createElement(“label”,{className:”form__”.concat(u,”-label”)},b,i().createElement(“span”,{dangerouslySetInnerHTML:{__html:r.text||””}})):i().createElement(i().Fragment,null,b)};var d=function(e){var t=e.layout,n=e.method,r=e.action,c=e.handleSubmit,u=e.inputs,s=o((0,a.useState)({}),2),d=s[0],v=s[1],m=”US”===l(“FTR_Country_Code”)||!1;return i().createElement(“form”,{“data-hydrate”:!0,className:”newsletter-form__form newsletter-form__form–“.concat(t),method:n,action:r,onSubmit:function(e){return c(e,d)},tabIndex:”exitIntent”===t?-1:void 0},null==u?void 0:u.filter((function(e){return!m||”CONTACT_OTHER_BRANDS”!==e.name&&”CONTACT_PARTNERS”!==e.name})).map((function(e){return i().createElement(f,{key:””.concat(e.name,”-“).concat(e.value),setFormValues:v,type:e.type,label:e.label,value:e.value,name:e.name,placeholder:e.placeholder,required:e.required,inputClassName:”form_input form__”.concat(e.type,”-input form__”).concat(e.type,”-input–“).concat(t)})})),m&&i().createElement(i().Fragment,null,i().createElement(f,{key:”CONTACT_OTHER_BRANDS”,setFormValues:v,type:”hidden”,name:”CONTACT_OTHER_BRANDS”,value:”true”,inputClassName:””}),i().createElement(f,{key:”CONTACT_PARTNERS”,setFormValues:v,type:”hidden”,name:”CONTACT_PARTNERS”,value:”true”,inputClassName:””})))};function v(e,t,n,r,o,a,i){try{var l=e[a](i),c=l.value}catch(e){return void n(e)}l.done?t(c):Promise.resolve(c).then(r,o)}function m(e){return function(){var t=this,n=arguments;return new Promise((function(r,o){var a=e.apply(t,n);function i(e){v(a,r,o,i,l,”next”,e)}function l(e){v(a,r,o,i,l,”throw”,e)}i(void 0)}))}}var p=n(757),h=n.n(p);const y=function(e,t){setTimeout((function(){window.freyr.cmd.push((function(){window.freyr.pushAndUpdate(e,t)}))}),0)},w=function(e){if(!e)return null;var t=e.title,n=e.body,r=e.buttonText,o=document.querySelector(“.kiosq-description”),a=document.querySelector(“.kiosq-conditions”);return o&&o.insertAdjacentHTML(“afterend”,”.kiosq-description {display:none;}”),a&&a.insertAdjacentHTML(“afterend”,”.kiosq-conditions {display:none;}”),i().createElement(“div”,{“data-hydrate”:!0,className:”newsletter-form__message–kiosq”},i().createElement(“p”,{className:”newsletter-form__message–kiosq-title”},t),i().createElement(“p”,{className:”newsletter-form__message–kiosq-text”},n),i().createElement(“button”,{className:”newsletter-form__message–kiosq-button”,onClick:function(){document.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent(“kiosqRegwall”,{detail:{message:”email sent”}})),localStorage.setItem(“kiosqRegwall”,”Email already sent”)}},r))};function E(e,t){var n=Object.keys(e);if(Object.getOwnPropertySymbols){var r=Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(e);t&&(r=r.filter((function(t){return Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(e,t).enumerable}))),n.push.apply(n,r)}return n}function g(e){for(var t=1;t
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
Analysis: hiking misery
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
The good news here, such as it is, is that TSMC is reportedly waiting until 2027 before implementing these price hikes. They could have come in sooner given the climate we’re currently facing, although we should remember, this news isn’t official, and it’s just based on what Nikkei Asia has heard from its sources. But it’s all too believable — and arguably inevitable — that further chip price hikes are coming.
What this means is that the likes of processors — or anything with a CPU in it — are likely to get pricier next year, because manufacturers who are getting their chips from TSMC will, naturally enough, pass any cost increase (or most of it) on to the consumer. And TSMC supplies a lot of the tech industry’s needs, Apple and Nvidia included (as well as AMD and Qualcomm).
Regarding the RAM situation in Germany, this is just one country, of course, but it’s generally reflective of what a lot of chatter is saying — that the second half of 2026 is going to bring further price rises, and that next year is likely to be even worse. That’s the broad theory floated by analysts and chip makers themselves in many cases, and the German market is simply backing this notion up.
Of course, there’s not much that consumers can do about this, except perhaps to consider buying now rather than next year. Or at this point, you may want to look at Black Friday as a good upcoming opportunity to pounce on a hardware purchase like a PC or laptop, and that’s the other thing to bear in mind here: how you proceed depends on what hardware you’re looking at purchasing. I’ve discussed this recently in some depth, after Nvidia’s CEO commented on the RAM crisis, and how it’s not going to be over until perhaps 2030.
Follow TechRadar on Google News andadd us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.
The best laptops for all budgets
Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons
Source