- HP has underlined how pricey RAM has now become
- On average, the system RAM now accounts for 35% of the total cost of making a PC
- Previously that figure was 15% to 18% of HP’s total outlay for a PC, so the cost of memory has effectively doubled
HP has made it clear just how pricey RAM has become, reaching the point where system memory now eats up double the budget allocation it previously did with the cost of making a new PC.
The Register reports that HP shared this info in a Q1 2026 earnings call. According to HP, in the previous quarter, the cost of system RAM in a PC represented between 15% to 18% of the total budget — whereas now it takes up 35% of the cost. That means the price of memory has pretty much doubled.
On top of that, we’re told that the amount of said budget that the memory modules consume is likely to increase as 2026 rolls onwards.
HP’s interim CEO Bruce Broussard noted that the PC maker has long-term supply contracts in place for this year, and has also “qualified new suppliers [and] built in strategic inventory positions for key platforms and cut the time to qualify new material in half to accelerate our product configuration changes.”
Analysis: DDR: double data rate — and doubly expensive for HP
On the face of it, this is a rather startling hike in the percentage of the bill-of-materials (total cost of components) that RAM now consumes. It represents more than a third of that bill, in fact, although really, that won’t come as much of a surprise to those who’ve been following the price hikes we’re seeing for consumers with RAM kits, particularly DDR5 models.
Still, it’s clear enough that even a company with the clout of HP — it’s the second biggest PC manufacturer in the world, behind only Lenovo — is struggling, despite what must be relatively vast resources in terms of its pool of existing (already purchased) RAM inventory. (Speaking of Lenovo, that firm is already warning about RAM-driven price increases for consumer PCs in March.)
The comment from HP’s interim CEO about seeking out new suppliers is particularly interesting, given that we’ve been hearing a lot about more affordable RAM from Chinese manufacturers of late. Is HP looking to Asian chips such as the memory modules made by CXMT to fill the gaps in its stock supply lines? We can only speculate, but that’s an obvious conclusion that some folks are understandably leaping to.
The temporary chief executive also made a comment about “configuring our products and shaping demand to align the supply we have with our customer needs”, which could be read as a hint about having more laptops with 8GB of RAM to rein in the price rises for more mainstream HP notebooks. That may be a necessary move, albeit an unfortunate compromise in terms of future-proofing.
It’s painfully obvious that the RAM crisis means tough times for everyone right now, even the biggest driving forces in the PC manufacturing world.
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