ASUS confirms price hike for select products due to DRAM shortage

Starting January 5, 2026, a handful of ASUS products will see price increases due to ongoing DRAM and storage shortages that have significantly impacted the PC market.

The PC market has been facing a significant DRAM shortage over the past few months. This shortage is largely due to memory manufacturers allocating a substantial portion of their production capacity to AI-focused customers, leaving consumer products such as laptops with limited memory supply. As a result, the impact of this shortage is now becoming evident in the consumer PC market at the beginning of the new year.

According to a notice obtained from industry sources, ASUS has confirmed that some of its product lineups will experience price increases effective January 5, 2026. The company noted that rising AI-related demand has placed significant pressure on DRAM and storage supplies.

ASUS has not yet disclosed the exact extent of the price increase or which specific products will be affected. However, laptops, especially high-end and gaming laptops, are likely to be among the products most impacted by the price hike.

ASUS Co-CEO Samson Hu previously told Commercial Times that he does not expect the DRAM and storage market to ease before the first half of 2026. If you’re planning to upgrade your PC in the coming months, you should be prepared to spend a bit more.

Of course, ASUS is not the first PC manufacturer to adjust prices due to rising component costs. This month, Dell announced that its entire commercial laptop lineup will see a price increase of 10 to 30 percent, adding hundreds of dollars to the MSRP of its laptops.

There is still no clear or immediate solution in sight for the memory shortage in the market, and it seems unlikely that memory manufacturers would risk upsetting their high-paying AI customers by reducing supply to them.

A new report from International Data Corporation (IDC) indicates that the DRAM shortage may persist until 2027, significantly impacting PC shipments in 2026. IDC predicts that PC shipments could decline by up to 8.9 percent next year. Similarly, TrendForce has warned that if the shortage is not resolved in the second quarter of 2026, the market could see supply drop by as much as 10.1 percent.

Via: TrendForce