Hardware Price Crisis: GPUs and RAM in 2025-2026
The hardware market is in turmoil. Both RAM and GPU prices are increasing . Since September 2025, we’ve witnessed unprecedented price increases across PC components. DDR5 memory kits now cost more than high-end GPUs, the RTX 5090 has vanished from shelves, and anyone building AI infrastructure faces difficult choices. Here’s what’s happening and what it means for self-hosters and developers. The memory shortage isn’t ending soon. Industry analysts expect constraints to persist through 2026 as AI datacenter demand continues outpacing supply expansion. For individual developers and small teams, this means: Buy RAM now if you need it — Prices are unlikely to drop soon Consider unified memory systems — DGX Spark and Mac Studio sidestep the DDR5 crisis Right-size your local models — Smaller, quantized models may be the pragmatic choice Hybrid approaches — Combine local inference for privacy with cloud APIs for heavy lifting The hardware landscape has fundamentally changed...