As CES 2026 approaches, it appears that the memory supply situation has reached a critical juncture. ASUS has announced that it will raise prices for some memory products starting January 5.
This information came from a leaked internal message to business partners, initially published by Videocardz, and ASUS Taiwan later confirmed the authenticity of the document, stating that it was directed internally and was not for public use.
The price adjustments specifically include SSDs and DRAM kits, but only certain assemblies and products will be affected, according to the document.
The timing of this increase, ahead of CES 2026, is seen as a strategic move to set new price benchmarks in the market. ASUS has not yet revealed the price details for each model or the exact extent of the increase, while industry rumors indicate the possibility of random memory prices rising by up to 45% during 2026.
These increases may affect all sectors that rely on memory components such as DRAM and NAND flash, including laptops, off-the-shelf PCs, and graphics cards.
In response, ASUS will continue to support DDR4 motherboards, giving users the option to stick with the older standard which has seen a price rise but remains more economically available.
Other manufacturers have also begun implementing similar temporary measures, with more laptops expected to come with just 8GB of memory in the future.
