Singapore PC prices surge 40% amid memory and parts shortage due to AI infrastructure demand

SINGAPORE – Consumers who plan to buy a new personal computer are in for sticker shock.

Latest market data from research firm IDC shows that average prices have surged by up to 40 per cent in the second quarter of 2026 from a year ago, driven by component shortages.

Specifically, computer memory, storage and graphics cards are in short supply because the expansion of global data centres to support artificial intelligence services has consumed the bulk of these components.

IDC expects PC prices to remain high throughout 2027, dipping slightly only towards the second half of 2027.

IDC figures show that the average price here for regular laptops rose by 26 per cent to $1,650 in the second quarter of 2026, from about $1,300 a year ago. These are laptops that run the Windows operating system, typically with 16GB of computer memory – or random-access memory (RAM) – and a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD).

The average price of regular desktops was up 28 per cent, from around $1,100 to $1,410 over the same period. More powerful desktops geared towards gaming had their average price jump 39 per cent, from $1,330 to nearly $1,860.

The average price for gaming laptops also rose, but more modestly by 17 per cent, from $2,460 to $2,890, due partly to vendors selling some models at discounted prices to clear older stock, said IDC.

Apple also recently announced price increases of 15 per cent to 25 per cent across its product line-up.

The biggest contributor to the PC price surge is the shrinking supply of computer memory chips, or RAM, which is used to access computer data. The severe RAM shortage has led to some pundits nicknaming it a “RAMageddon”.

“Since last year, the PC market has seen significant price hikes, driven largely by the memory shortage crisis that has affected the whole information technology industry,” said Ho Jin Wei, an associate research analyst at IDC Asia Pacific.

With skyrocketing global AI demand, manufacturers are shifting computer memory production towards demand from businesses building AI infrastructure, said Ho. This is due to the much higher profit margins they can make from such sales as opposed to sales to PC vendors. And the shift has a knock-on effect on the prices of laptops and desktops that also need RAM.

Consumers upgrading or replacing just their computer’s RAM contend with sharp price spikes too.

Checks by The Straits Times at tech mall Sim Lim Square found that the average price of a 32GB dual-channel DDR5 RAM, a type of high-end computer memory, rose to almost fourfold from $195 in August 2025 to $763 about a year later.

Storage in general has also become more costly, partly because manufacturers prioritise enterprise and data centre demands over consumers, said Ho.

ST’s check found that, on average, a 1TB internal SSD used in computers more than doubled in price from $149 in August 2025 to $328 in August 2026. Meanwhile, a 4TB internal hard disk drive went from $205 to $336 on average over the same period, a 64 per cent jump.

ST also found that Nvidia’s 5060 series of graphics cards with 8GB of RAM went from $572 to $824 on average, a 44 per cent uptick. Graphics cards are used for rendering more intensive computer graphics.

A decline in the supply of a specialised computer memory used in graphics cards throughout the first half of 2026 has affected prices of graphics cards for consumers, said IDC.

“With major graphics card makers reportedly planning further price increases for their respective product lines in the last six months of 2026, this could push PC prices up further,” said Ho.

“Any meaningful easing on PC prices is more likely a story for 2028 and beyond rather than in the near term,” he added.

For now, soaring PC prices have given consumers another reason to tighten their belts. This comes amid broader economic jitters and global tensions that have already softened consumer spending, four retailers at Sim Lim Square told ST.

This has meant that PC sales are down 20 per cent to 80 per cent for them in 2026 compared with 2025.

John Soroya, owner of R Zech Laptop, whose sales of new and refurbished computers plummeted 80 per cent, said: “It’s very, very difficult. Sometimes we cannot cover our rent.”

A Fuwell sales representative, who said sales were affected by “quite a lot”, added that the store is relying on corporate clients and regular customers. Some die-hard enthusiasts who need the best and the latest will bite the bullet and buy computer parts even at their current elevated prices, he noted.

Other shoppers are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Bizgram sales assistant Bryan Fun said that two to three months ago, some customers still bought higher-priced computers, fearing they would get even more expensive.

But with prices at the highest they have ever been now, some are unsure where prices will go and are waiting, hoping that they will drop in 2027, he said.

There is more bad news. Fun received word from suppliers that the prices of motherboards – the main circuit board linking other PC components together – increased by about 10 per cent in September.

One consumer sitting on the fence is Bryan Ang, 38, who works in the IT industry. He was planning to buy a new PC, but after seeing how much prices have risen, he is undecided. “I’m not sure whether it’s actually a good time to buy now or if I should wait a bit to see whether prices will go down.”