Research indicates that consumer-grade LPDDR5X prices surged 89% in Q2, with the squeeze effect of AI memory spreading to the mobile phone and PC markets.

According to Mars Finance, on June 23, market research firm SigmaIntell stated on June 22 that consumer storage product prices generally rose in the second quarter of this year due to an imbalance between supply and demand for memory. The price increases were particularly pronounced for low-power DRAM products, with LPDDR4X 4GB prices rising 75% quarter-on-quarter and LPDDR5X 12GB prices rising 89% quarter-on-quarter. This round of price increases is driven by the adoption of LPDDR memory in next-generation server GPU platforms. As AI computing platforms such as NVIDIA Vera Rubin adopt related low-power memory, supply competition has intensified, leading storage manufacturers to extend price increases to consumer-grade memory used in smartphones and PCs. SigmaIntell stated that some customers have already accepted the price increases, and the changes have been reflected in market prices. Supply-side pressure stems from capacity reallocation. SigmaIntell indicated that in the second quarter, storage manufacturers prioritized high-value-added products such as HBM, server DRAM, and enterprise-grade SSDs, leading to a tightening of consumer-grade memory supply. Due to rising cost pressures, some smartphone and PC brands are adjusting their memory orders. This also means that the rate of increase in DRAM prices may slow down in the second half of the year. Compared to mid-to-high-end products, the demand for memory used in low-end terminals is expected to cool down more significantly. Currently, semiconductor wafer resources are continuing to concentrate on high-bandwidth memory (HBM), relatively compressing consumer-grade DRAM capacity. HBM maintains relatively stable prices through annual customer contracts, but the supply-demand imbalance remains severe. General-purpose server DRAM is also experiencing an industry-wide price increase trend, with cloud vendors continuously replenishing DRAM inventory, keeping channel inventory at a low level of about two to three weeks. The consumer electronics market is therefore under pressure. The expansion of high-value-added memory products, limited additional capacity construction, and low inventory levels have combined to perpetuate the shortage of consumer-grade DRAM. The NAND market also continues to rise. SigmaIntell stated that SSD prices rose by about 50% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of this year. Demand for enterprise-grade NAND products remains strong, and price fluctuations have not weakened purchasing intentions. The expansion of AI clusters and AI agent servers is driving demand for high-performance, high-capacity storage devices. Price pressure is also spreading to mobile and PC NAND. UFS prices surged by up to 100% due to expanding demand for enterprise-grade SSDs squeezing supply, while reduced supply of low-capacity eMMC and other low-end NAND also tightened the supply and demand for consumer-grade NAND. Overall, the expansion of AI infrastructure is altering the price transmission path in the storage industry. Previously, shortages were primarily concentrated in HBM and server DRAM, but are now being transmitted to the mobile phone, PC, and consumer storage markets through capacity allocation and wafer resource constraints. For end-user brands, rising memory and flash memory costs may become a significant variable for profit margins and product pricing in the second half of the year.