Exploding memory prices are pushing corporate buyers to fast-track PC purchases before costs climb further.
DRAM and NAND have already soared 80 to 90 percent since the final quarter of 2025, as The Register recently reported, and further bill shocks are forecast as the year progresses.
PC makers are starting to witness this dynamic. Lenovo today reported revenue of $15.8 billion for its Intelligent Devices Group (IDG), up 14 percent year-on-year, with PC revenues within that up 18 percent.
A similar effect was seen early last year when a tariff threat from the Trump administration caused a spike in trade as resellers and buyers alike tried to buy up boxes and get them through customs before the cost of imports jumped.
The memory supply shortage and the rising cost situation is “unprecedented,” said Lenovo chief Yang Yuanqing, speaking on an analyst call to discuss its earnings.
“DRAM cost increased by 40 to 50 percent last quarter, but the current quarter versus last quarter almost doubled again, even with the contract price. So this structural imbalance between supply and demand is not simply a short-term fluctuation. It’s likely to have a prolonged impact on the industry throughout this year,” he stated.
On the other hand, a volatile market could become an opportunity for Lenovo, Yuanqing added. Lenovo’s view is that high material costs will likely constrain demand for PCs and smartphones later in 2026, “but that’s just from a unit volume point of view,” he said.
“Given the higher pricing and the market shifting to the premium segment because of AI PCs, we believe the overall PC revenue market will still grow year-over-year.”
In other words, available devices will carry a higher price tag, cushioning lower shipment volumes.
CDW, one of the world’s largest resellers, also forecast stronger hardware growth in the first half of this year as many buyers bet that bumping purchases forward will avoid higher prices.
“We believe to the best of our ability that we’re going to see about the same amount of pull forward in Q1 or slightly more than we actually saw in December,” president and CEO Christine Leahy said during CDW’s recent earnings call.
“When you think about the various products, I would just tell you that PCs for us, for example, have been strong. We’ll probably see decelerating growth this coming year, but we still see strength as we explained in our prepared remarks. It might be a little choppier during the course of the year as a result of memory, but we still see strength there.”
Analyst Omdia said PC shipments in Q4 2025 were higher than forecast due to a significant amount of pulled forward demand from the channel.
On average, mainstream PC DRAM and SSD prices jumped by nearly 100 percent and 40 percent respectively during 2025. Omdia forecast a rise of another 60 percent for DRAM and 70 percent for flash memory this quarter alone.
The memory crisis is likely to be a prolonged situation where consumers and enterprises will eventually have to adjust to the new higher price points, rather than expect a quick return to previous levels.
The PC market could see a 10 percent shipment decline, Omdia warns, shrinking back to 2023 levels, with the risk of a 15 percent decline if all the costs are passed on to buyers. ®