Upgrading your RAM could soon be surprisingly cheaper

Upgrading your PC with some new RAM may soon be much less expensive, a new report has claimed.

The price of DRAM and NAND flash are reportedly set to see a dramatic fall within the next few months, offering a welcome relief for gamers and home-builders across the world.

A memo from Gartner seen by The Register believes that prices are set to crash in the second half of 2022 as hardware floods the market following the current global chip shortage.

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Global shortage

The memo says that by this time, an "oversupply" of memory chips will swamp the market as manufacturers look to bounce back from the 2021 worldwide chip shortage. It notes that a “significant price reduction” is the most likely outcome of this, meaning prices for chips should fall dramatically.

The news may have a knock-on effect on device manufacturers themselves, with Gartner's memo appearing to urge makers of devices such as PCs and laptops to bump up their production of memory-hungry products in order to take advantage of the flood of cheap chips.

Gartner did note that overall market conditions for 2022 would be "unusual", suggesting further price fluctuations and changes could be the norm going forward.

The global chip shortage has been highlighted by companies throughout the technology world as one of the key impacts of the pandemic on tech as a whole. It is the result of a multitude of factors starting with the shuttering of production facilities due to health protocols, coupled with the sudden rise in demand for tech gear, including laptops and tablets as people around the world were forced to work and study remotely due to worldwide lockdowns. 

A severe drought in Taiwan, which forced the country to divert water supply from several industrial areas, including a hub of semiconductor manufacturing, further compounded the global shortage.

There is little consensus when it comes to assessing the extent of the problem and defining a timeline for recovery. Some say the shortage will ease up next year, others say problems will persist until 2023 and beyond.

Even industry heavyweights have remained non-committal about future supplies, with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger recently noting that it will take, "another one to two years before the industry is able to completely catch up with the demand.” 

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Via The Register