A forecast has emerged that memory prices could rise sharply around the second half of 2026.

According to foreign media including IT outlets TechRadar and Wccftech on June 23 local time, memory industry analyst Jukan said memory prices in the third quarter could rise 40 to 50 percent from the current quarter and add another 30 to 40 percent in the fourth quarter.

If that plays out, the price rise would not be limited to the second half of this year. Citing an investment bank Jefferies report, the analyst saw a high possibility that memory prices could rise another 40 to 45 percent in 2027 from a year earlier. The point at which prices ease was put at 2028. If demand slows and new capacity expands, prices could fall by as much as 20 percent, the view said.

The forecast cited large-scale preemptive buying by cloud companies. Major cloud operators have secured 50 percent of total memory output, and the share could rise to 70 percent, it said. They are reported to be required to make large advance payments of about 40 percent alongside long-term contracts. As a result, consumer electronics manufacturers face pressure, and memory supply could become tighter as next year progresses, it added.

Other forecasts in the market are somewhat lower. Investment research firm Aletheia Capital expects a 30 percent rise in the third quarter and up to 15 percent in the fourth quarter. There is a broad consensus that memory prices will rise, but Jukan's figures are relatively more aggressive.

Uncertainty on the supply side is also continuing. Jukan said Chinese memory chip makers are unlikely to play a role in easing RAM supply shortages in countries outside Asia at least this year and next. Similar assessments have been repeated in the market recently in the same context.

Warning signs are also appearing in the older memory market. After demand previously shifted back to DDR3, demand has recently returned even for DDR2 RAM in some uses. Market researcher TrendForce pointed out that DDR2 prices are also surging as a result. This means price pressure is spreading beyond the latest standards to older products as well.

The burden on makers of finished products has also been confirmed. According to The Verge, Valve said there is "no room at all" to negotiate prices with memory suppliers and explained it affected Steam Machine costs. Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang (젠슨 황) also said the price turmoil would be prolonged. That is why warnings are emerging across the industry that the strength in memory prices is not a short-term issue.

This trend is also likely to have a direct impact on the PC and laptop markets. In particular, if makers of consumer devices find it harder to secure memory on the same terms as enterprise and cloud demand, cost burdens could be passed on to product prices.

There are two key points to watch. One is whether cloud companies' preemptive buying actually expands further. The other is how much consumer memory supply shrinks before new capacity is brought into the market. Regardless of whether pessimism in the memory industry is exaggerated, the possibility that the price burden will grow over the rest of 2026 is gaining traction across the market.

If it really plays out like this… lol, that would be amazing. Jefferies held an expert call with a memory consultant, and according to this expert, memory prices are expected to rise 40–50% QoQ in 3Q26, followed by another 30–40% QoQ increase in 4Q26. This is significantly… pic.twitter.com/hgXhI7wPjG