At the ISC 2026 conference in Germany, Lenovo issued a stark warning: the recent surge in memory component prices may not be temporary.
The company stated that higher costs for DRAM and NAND flash could become the "new normal," lasting well into 2030 and beyond.
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Prices spiked dramatically from late Q3 to early Q4 2025, reaching levels few anticipated. Lenovo attributed this to massive AI demand, which is outpacing supply growth.
Even as manufacturers build new wafer fabs, it will take years for capacity to catch up.
Lenovo is not alone in this assessment. Micron has acknowledged that even its top customers cannot secure all the components they need.
Samsung and SK Hynix have expressed similar concerns.
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SK Hynix, a key player in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI, is accelerating expansion.
The company aims to nearly double its DRAM wafer capacity by 2030–2031 and triple overall production by around 2034.
However, observers question whether this will be sufficient to meet AI chip demand.
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The shift has boosted memory makers' profits but tightened supply for consumer-grade DRAM and NAND.
Consequently, costs are rising for everyday products such as PCs, laptops, smartphones, SSDs, and cloud services.
For consumers and businesses, the implication is clear: upgrading computers or buying new devices may remain more expensive than in the past.
Lenovo's outlook suggests a departure from the traditional boom-and-bust memory pricing cycle, moving toward a permanently higher baseline driven by AI.
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Innovation in efficiency and new technologies could eventually mitigate the impact. But for the next several years, elevated memory prices appear likely to persist.
