The price of RAM has risen from about $219 to $709 in 6 months for a single 64 GB DDR5 kit.

This is a prime example of how consumer affordability gets sacrificed when every incentive pushes tech companies to chase the highest-margin buyers.

We’ve seen this before. In 2016 the Raspberry Pi 3 went from $35 to $90+ during the shortage. In 2017 and the years after, graphics cards jumped from $200 to $1,000.

Now in 2025 it’s happening again with RAM. Prices spike almost overnight, and then take years to drift back toward “normal.” The Raspberry Pi 3 is only just back to $35 after almost a decade.

This may not seem like a big deal, but the ripple effects will run through the entire tech landscape, adding to an already unaffordable cost of existing for most people.

As tech and finance learn how to squeeze every new wave of innovation, these swings get more extreme. We live in a fragile ecosystem balanced between obsessive innovation, shareholder primacy, and slow-moving regulation and supply chains.

If you bought or built a computer recently, I hope you’re happy with it, because you might be stuck with it for a long time until the market cools and suppliers re-engage with consumers.

This will affect desktops, laptops, phones, IoT devices, newer cars, pre-built systems, servers and cloud pricing, and even the used market. Subscription costs can creep up as companies are forced to pay 2-4× more for the same RAM, raising their operating expenses.

We don’t live in a world where only gold, oil, and house prices matter anymore. It’s time to pay attention to how the basic building blocks of modern tech like RAM are being priced, because it will impact you in ways you probably haven’t thought about.

We live in an increasingly digital world where almost every device uses memory, and PC builders and small tech businesses will be hit first as they’re priced out of affordability and scalability.

Just my thoughts on this issue as I realize The 64GB I bought in April for $209 is not enough, but buying more is unrealistic.