As memory prices skyrocket, PC manufacturer Lenovo is playing the smart game and stockpiling as much RAM as it needs to ride the storm. Bloomberg reports that Lenovo is holding onto component, boasting memory and other important computer hardware inventories that are around 50% higher than usual.
The amount of RAM that Lenovo is allegedly stockpiling could reportedly enable it to keep costs down on its products as the price of RAM increases. Furthermore, it is claimed that Lenovo has enough inventory to see out the remainder of 2025 and all of 2026. The company has so much inventory that it claims it can navigate "any shortage" better than any of its competitors.
Assuming Lenovo's statement is true, the company will have a noteworthy advantage in OEM PC and laptop product pricing moving into 2026. Right now, if other PC manufacturers are not stockpiling memory at a similar scale to Lenovo, we could see manufacturers struggling to maintain competitive pricing in an already cut-throat world. Lenovo could also likely have more consistent product pricing as we move into 2026, as other manufacturers will likely have to fluctuate their own product prices to compensate for the constantly fluctuating market value of DDR5 that we will inevitably see for at least the next 12 months.
Lenovo couldn't have started stockpiling RAM at a better time. DDR5 prices for both consumer and server markets are spiralling out of control as demand for DRAM chips skyrockets from the AI sector. In less than four months, DRAM prices have doubled, causing 64GB DDR5 dual-channel memory kits to cost more than an entire PS5.
The main problem is that memory manufacturers are now prioritizing supplying AI manufacturers such as Nvidia with memory chips over other markets, and don't appear to be boosting DRAM production output to compensate. This is not surprising considering the RAM market just came out of an era of over-production in 2022 to 2023, which left all the major RAM manufacturers in a bad spot. (It was a great time to buy memory for consumers, but it was devastating for memory producers.) Increasing production capacity will increase the risk of overproduction in the future.
There's no telling when this RAM pricing surge will end; some analysts say it could last up to a decade. But at the very least, the current RAM pricing apocalypse we are in is basically guaranteed to last all of 2026.
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