Memory Shortage Is Forcing Smaller PC Makers to Rethink How They Buy RAM

The global memory squeeze is changing more than retail RAM prices. Reuters reports that smaller phone and laptop makers are adapting purchasing, product configuration and inventory strategies because securing enough memory has become difficult even when they are willing to pay higher prices.

Framework is one of the PC companies highlighted in the report. Its modular approach gives buyers more flexibility than a conventional soldered-memory laptop: customers can choose DIY configurations and source compatible memory separately instead of requiring Framework to bundle every system with RAM purchased at the current market price. That does not make Framework immune to the shortage, but it changes where some of the supply and pricing risk can sit.

Framework publicly documented the pressure before the latest Reuters report. In its memory-pricing update, the company said it increased DDR5 pricing for Framework Laptop DIY Edition orders by 50% after supplier and distributor costs rose sharply. It kept existing pre-orders at their original prices and said customers could still order a DIY Edition without memory or storage and supply those components themselves.

Framework also said it intends to lower its prices again if its own component costs fall. That distinction matters: the company described the increases as a response to purchase costs rather than a permanent repricing strategy. For buyers, however, the immediate effect is the same broader problem visible across the PC market—memory has become a much larger and less predictable part of the cost of a new system.

Counterpoint Research reported in July that global PC shipments fell 4% year over year in the second quarter of 2026 to about 65 million units, ending the market’s growth streak that began in early 2025. It identified rising component costs, particularly memory, as a factor suppressing shipment volumes and pushing PC makers toward higher prices.

The memory market remains unusually tight. Counterpoint said in its August DRAM update that demand continued to exceed supply as AI infrastructure expanded demand for both conventional DRAM used alongside server CPUs and high-bandwidth memory used with accelerators. The firm expected pent-up AI demand to keep upward pressure on conventional DRAM pricing.

The practical problem is not identical for every PC manufacturer. Large OEMs can negotiate long-term supply arrangements across enormous shipment volumes and can spread component changes across broad product portfolios. Smaller vendors generally have less purchasing leverage and fewer alternative configurations to absorb sudden component shortages.

Reuters describes companies responding with measures such as advance purchasing, redesigning products around available components and, in Framework’s case, leaning on modular configurations that can separate the computer purchase from the memory purchase. Those strategies can reduce exposure to one procurement path, but they do not create additional DRAM supply.

For PC enthusiasts, the latest development is significant because manufacturers are now planning around scarcity as a persistent operating constraint rather than a short-lived spot-price spike. Reuters reports that some industry expectations extend tight conditions through 2027, while the exact duration remains uncertain and will vary by memory type and customer segment.

That makes future supplier capacity, allocation between AI and consumer products, and actual contract pricing more useful signals than isolated retail listings. Core Tech Tips will treat specific price forecasts separately when there is evidence for them; this report supports the narrower conclusion that memory availability is already changing how smaller PC makers design, configure and procure their products.