DDR4 Prices Increase to All-time High in Summer 2025
When new tech is released and becomes mainstream, it’s the natural progression that the former version of the same product becomes outdated and falls into less demand. The manufacturers put the remaining stock of this older version on the discount shelf, hoping the lower price tag will capture some value-minded customers who don’t need the latest and greatest performance. Over time, if the shelf stays full, the price will continue to drop until the stock is depleted.
This is not what we’re seeing happen with today’s memory hardware.
While consumers may quickly pivot to the newest technology faster, industrial and medical systems are likely to keep existing systems in place longer. In this article, we’ll explain some of the factors contributing to the use of one memory kit over the other, and how the state of demand—as well as the rise of AI applications—are resulting in unprecedented price surges in DDR4.
DDR5 is on the scene
The newest DDR SDRAM, DDR5, began prototypes back in 2017 and hit markets around 2021. DDR5 made a splash as it offers twice the transfer rate of DDR4 with up to four times the capacity. These are impressive improvements—with an accordingly higher price. The higher price has deterred many users who don’t need such a high-performing kit. Many simple automation setups or other low-power, efficient industrial operations simply don’t need this level of memory… yet.
Contact us to see how DDR5 could benefit you in your application.
DDR4 is OFF the scene
With the shiny new DDR SDRAM in play for the better part of 4 years now, manufacturers are gradually reallocating production away from the older DDR4. The reduced supply is not just decreasing, but soon potentially ceasing altogether; manufacturers such as Samsung and Micron have announced EOL dates for DDR4 as early as the end of 2025.
These fast-approaching end of life dates caused a scare in the summer of 2025. The last few months have seen mass buying of existing DDR4 stock, causing its price to skyrocket along with its demand. In a Digitimes report, August 2025 DDR4 prices exceeded DDR5’s by over 50%. It’s important to note, however, that this scare and subsequent price surge has since caused manufacturers to delay their EOL on DDR4 to later in 2026 or even postponed altogether.
AI Applications Increasing Demand
The rise of AI computing and advanced applications is the elephant in the room of any computer topic today. How is the rapidly growing AI industry affecting all this?
The increase in popularity of high-performance, advanced AI models is a significant driving factor in manufacturers pivoting towards the production of DDR5 and HBM (high-bandwidth memory). DDR5 and HBM are the premium of memory and offer higher margins, so the increased demand to support AI computing presents a win-win to these manufacturers and their buyers.
Our Commitment
Realistically, with DDR4 approaching its end of life while demand is unchanged, its prices will only continue to rise. However, DDR4 isn’t going away anytime soon, and neither is our support. Teguar will continue to support DDR4 systems and offer competitively priced DDR4 units—our commitment to a long product lifecycle. That said, if you’re ready for a change, Teguar is here to help validate a new system.
Teguar has a variety of units in stock that accommodate DDR5, such as:
If you’re looking for an affordable DDR4 solution fast before prices continue to increase, give us a call to secure one of the DDR4 configurations we have left in stock. Some of our in-stock DDR4 units include:
Questions on DDR4 or DDR5?
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