- HP highlighted how expensive RAM has become
- On average, system RAM now represents 35% of the total cost of manufacturing a PC
- Previously, this figure represented 15-18% of HP’s total PC spend, so the cost of memory has effectively doubled.
HP has made it clear how expensive RAM has become, reaching the point where system memory now consumes double the budget allocation it previously did with the cost of manufacturing a new PC.
The Register reports that HP shared this information during a first-quarter 2026 earnings call. According to HP, in the previous quarter, the cost of system RAM in a PC was between 15 and 18 percent of the total budget – while today it represents 35 percent of the cost. This means that the price of memory has almost doubled.
On top of that, we’re told that the amount of said budget consumed by memory modules is likely to increase as 2026 progresses.
HP interim CEO Bruce Broussard noted that the PC maker has secured long-term supply contracts for this year and has also “qualified new suppliers.” [and] builds strategic inventory positions for key platforms and cuts new hardware qualification time in half to accelerate our product configuration changes.
Analysis: DDR: double data rate — and doubly expensive for HP
At first glance, this is a rather surprising increase in the percentage of the bill of materials (total component cost) that RAM now consumes. That’s actually more than a third of that bill, although in reality it won’t come as much of a surprise to those who have been following the price increases we’re seeing for consumers of RAM kits, particularly DDR5 models.
Yet it’s clear that even a company as influential as HP – it’s the world’s second-largest PC maker, behind Lenovo – is struggling, despite what must be relatively vast resources in terms of existing (already purchased) RAM stock. (Speaking of Lenovo, that company already warned about RAM-related price increases for consumer PCs in March.)
HP’s interim CEO’s comment about finding new suppliers is particularly interesting, given that we’ve been hearing a lot lately about more affordable RAM from Chinese manufacturers. Is HP looking to Asian chips such as memory modules made by CXMT to fill gaps in its inventory? We can only speculate, but it’s an obvious conclusion that some people rightly rush to.
The interim CEO also made a comment about “configuring our products and directing demand to align the supply we have with the needs of our customers”, which could be interpreted as a reference to the need for more laptops with 8GB of RAM to curb the price rise of HP’s more mainstream laptops. This is perhaps a necessary step, even if it is an unfortunate compromise in terms of sustainability.
It’s sadly obvious that the RAM crisis means tough times for everyone right now, even for the biggest driving forces in the PC manufacturing world.
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