DRAMeXchange data on October 30 shows the October average price for general-purpose DRAM (DDR4 8Gb 1Gx8) was $27.5**, up **5.77%** from **$26 in September, and about 9.5x the $2.9 when the survey began in June 2016. TrendForce, DRAMeXchange's parent, forecasts Q4 PC DRAM contract prices will rise 13%–18% quarter-over-quarter.
DRAM prices keep rising as memory makers expand server memory capacity while cutting PC DRAM supply. TrendForce forecasts Korean DRAM makers' PC DRAM output next year will fall over 20% from this year. Despite weak PC demand, supply constraints are expected to keep prices rising. In Q4 contract negotiations, 15%–20% price hike proposals met customer resistance, preventing large deals, but TrendForce expects November contract benchmarks to be slightly above October on persistent supply shortages.
On NAND, the October average contract price for general-purpose NAND (128Gb 16Gx8 MLC) for memory cards and USB drives was $30.61, flat month-over-month. TrendForce said that as NAND makers shift capacity to advanced 3D NAND, older-process supply is shrinking, but high prices and uncertain supply kept MLC prices flat across capacities in October.
Driven by automotive, industrial control, and LEO satellite demand, SLC NAND prices kept rising, with October SLC average prices up 5%–10% month-over-month, and 4Gb-and-above high-capacity products up 9.0%–9.9%. TrendForce expects Q4 high-capacity SLC price increases to continue, while MLC prices may dip slightly as customers shift to cheaper SLC or TLC and demand falls.
ICgoodFind Summary: DDR4 8Gb at $27.5, up about 9.5x in a decade—server memory crowding out PC DRAM capacity is the structural cause. With makers cutting PC DRAM output another 20%+ next year, PC-side tightness will be hard to ease near term. The SLC-MLC divergence in NAND directly maps differing end-demand strength across subcategories.
