As the AI craze gains momentum in 2025, it has ignited a dramatic surge in demand, compelling international manufacturers to recalibrate their production capacities. This shift has triggered a meteoric rise in the prices of memory and storage chips. Key memory components, including DRAM and NAND Flash, have witnessed multiple rounds of price escalations. Take, for instance, the DDR5 16Gb chip, whose price has doubled within a mere month.

The steep price increases of storage chips have cast a long shadow over the consumer electronics sector, with smartphone manufacturers bearing the brunt of escalating costs and grappling with pricing dilemmas. Xiaomi, for one, has already taken the step of raising prices on its latest models. Meanwhile, Apple and Huawei have charted different courses. The majority of smartphone makers, however, have maintained a stoic silence on the issue of price hikes, reluctant to publicly acknowledge the impact.

Industry experts warn that if manufacturers are unable to transfer these increased costs to end consumers, some could find themselves in the red next year. The expectation is that the price surges for storage chips will persist until new production capacities come online in 2027.