PC memory... prices exploding?

[Technical Ben]

The prices for memory tends to reduce at the end of it's life, but before production ends. Why? Supply and demand. Manufactures can make it cheaply (well experienced and all the factories up and running), plus there ends up being enough of it around.

As an example, in the past I've seen memory be expensive when it's new, drop in price, then of cause once out of porduction rise again (demand might still be going but the factory if making version 2/3 etc). Then drop again as it becomes totally obsolete.

But this year, DDR3 prices seem to have skyrocketed. I think all in all they have doubled in a year.

It's like the HD price hikes all over again. Most put it down to a monopoly type collusion on prices and buying out competitors (so no one left to produce cheap/lower prices). 

[zappaDPJ]

I agree that prices have shot up over the last year although I'd say a 40-50% increase is more realistic. It's a shrinking market from which some of the major players have already departed. I'd take a guess the result is a supply-demand balance that favours the supplier i.e. the market may have shrunk but the supplier numbers have shrunk more.

[Technical Ben]

Well, I can look at some memory I priced up last year, and it's double the price now (on Ebuyer) and I think the cheapest is only £5 less. :/ 

[psp83]

I bought this in May.

Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

Price : £83.29.

Price as of today : £129.95

So yeah, the prices have increased quite abit