Chip manufacturer Lenovo has said that the price of memory will likely “never” return to the levels seen before prices began rising rapidly around a year ago.
The semiconductor firm made the comments during a presentation by executive director Martin Hiegl at the ISC conference in Germany this week, as reported by Computerbase.
Hiegl reportedly told attendees that DRAM and NAND prices will not return to their previous levels for a long time, even after significantly increased production capacity is implemented.
The Lenovo exec said that prices will likely “never” fall back to the levels seen a year ago. However, the “never” comment was reportedly exaggerated, and Hiegl was likely referring to the next five years and a little beyond.
The comments come in the same week that Microsoft claimed that memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x this year, and that it expects “another doubling” by the end of next year.
Microsoft raised the prices of its Xbox consoles this week by between $100 and $150. Apple also raised prices across its hardware products, with both companies citing the ongoing component crisis.
The sharply rising cost of memory is widely attributed to demand for AI datacentres, with major vendors signing long-term deals with AI firms. However, as spotted by WCCFTech, an executive at technology firm Micron blamed Apple for its alleged role in the crisis.
Without directly naming Apple, Micron’s Chief Business Officer, Sumit Sadana, claimed that Micron had informed a couple of its customers “who were being very aggressive with pricing” that their strategy was “not constructive.”
Earlier this week, Valve confirmed its Steam Machine would retail for over $1,000 – a price point some analysts later speculated would be “the floor” for next-gen consoles expected to arrive from 2027.
According to market research firm Circana, the average price paid for a new unit of video game hardware reached $502 in May, which is up 14% compared to a year ago ($440). The same month, Xbox recorded its worst sales month in its history, while PlayStation 5 unit sales declined by 58%.
