Micron reported a record quarter on 30 September and warned that memory will be even harder to get in 2027 and 2028 than it was in 2026. If you are about to build or upgrade a PC, the takeaway is simple: RAM and SSDs are not getting cheaper in the coming months. TrendForce published its fourth-quarter outlook the next day, and it also points to higher prices.
What Micron said
In fiscal Q4 2026, which ended on 3 September, Micron brought in 54.23 billion dollars in revenue. A year earlier it was 11.32 billion, and a quarter earlier 41.46 billion. For the next quarter the company expects 61.5 billion, plus or minus 1.5 billion.
On the earnings call, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said demand has only strengthened since the last report and that supply will be much tighter in fiscal 2027 and 2028 than in 2026. He said Micron cannot see when supply and demand will balance again, even counting the new cleanroom space the industry is planning. According to TechPowerUp, more than 75 percent of Micron's 2027 output is already committed to customers, and the new ID2 fab in Idaho will not start wafer output until late 2028. As recently as June, the company was saying supply would start to catch up gradually in 2028.
What gets more expensive next
Micron says DRAM prices rose by close to 20 percent last quarter and NAND by about 30. TrendForce expects conventional DRAM contract prices to climb another 10 to 15 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the third, and NAND by 15 to 20. The increases are slowing down, but they are not stopping.
- PC memory. Laptop and PC makers are stockpiling because they expect a shortage in 2027. TrendForce thinks PC DRAM supply could actually shrink in 2027 as more capacity moves to servers.
- Graphics memory. Suppliers are winding down GDDR6, while GDDR7 goes to AI chips first, so graphics memory keeps getting pricier. Some PC brands, TrendForce says, are considering a return to GDDR6 to save money.
- SSDs. Mainstream laptops are already shipping with smaller drives to hold their prices.
What it means if you are building a PC
If you need RAM or an SSD, these forecasts give no reason to wait for a price drop: TrendForce sees increases at least through the end of the year, and Micron sees no balance even in 2028. When buying a ready-made laptop, check the drive capacity separately, because that is the first thing being cut. Both are company forecasts and they can change, for example if demand for AI servers slows down.
Micron itself has mostly left retail: in December 2025 it announced it was shutting down its Crucial consumer brand. For a sense of how expensive memory is feeding into finished systems, look at mini PC prices with the Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495.
Sources
Micron fiscal Q4 2026 earnings release, 30.09.2026. TechPowerUp on the Micron earnings call, 01.10.2026. TrendForce outlook for Q4 2026, 01.10.2026. TechPowerUp on Micron leaving the Crucial consumer business, 03.12.2025. Photos: PantheraLeo1359531, 2024, CC BY 4.0; 4300streetcar, 2025, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
