DRAM Contract Pricing Skyrockets to Record Highs in Q1 2026
The memory market has entered an explosive upcycle. In the first quarter of 2026, conventional DRAM contract prices experienced a near-doubling, rising between 93% and 98% quarter-over-quarter. This price surge drove global DRAM industry revenue up by 81% QoQ to $97 billion, establishing massive windfalls for the top three memory suppliers: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.
This extreme price environment is expected to persist through the second quarter of 2026. TrendForce projects conventional DRAM contract prices to rise by an additional 58% to 63% QoQ in 2Q26. The primary driver of this "chipflation" is an acute supply shortage. Low supplier inventories and a structural reallocation of wafer capacity toward high-capacity RDIMMs and High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI servers have severely crowded out PC OEMs and smartphone clients, forcing double-digit percentage price hikes on consumer hardware.
The massive financial impact is visible in the public financial data. For example, Micron (MU) reported TTM revenue of $58.12B, with its latest quarterly revenue ending February 28, 2026, exploding 196.3% YoY to $23.86 billion and generating $13.79 billion in net income (a 756.0% YoY earnings increase).