Tariffs Bite: Samsung Memory Chip Price Hike Incoming

These days, RAM has become so cheap it’s ridiculous. Remember back in the day when upgrading from 8GB to 16GB on your PC felt like a luxury? Now? You don’t even have to think twice. Or do you? It seems that Samsung is increasing the prices of its memory chips in response to the upcoming US tariffs.

Memory chip prices are increasing

According to a report from ETNews, Samsung is increasing the prices of its DRAM products. The prices will vary from customer to customer, presumably based on how many units they order. However, the report suggests that it will be around 20% for DDR4 products and about 5% for DDR5 products.

The report also claims that Samsung is currently stockpiling its memory chips in addition to raising prices. The company is taking advantage of the 90-day pause on the tariffs, so it’s trying to get as many chips into the US as possible. This is similar to what Apple has done. The Cupertino company has also been stockpiling iPhones.

Right now, Trump’s tariffs haven’t gone into full effect yet. The US president has put a 90-day pause while some of the details are being worked out. Countries and various governments are also trying to negotiate deals with the US in a bid to try and lower the tariffs against their countries.

Affecting the rest of the industry

Also, it is fully unclear how much semiconductor products will be taxed. Earlier, there was some confusion regarding the tax implications. It was initially suggested that smartphones would be exempt from tariffs. However, later clarification revealed that smartphones are not exempt. Instead, smartphones would fall under the semiconductor tariff category.

This will affect companies like Apple and Samsung greatly. Samsung not only makes smartphones, but it is also the world’s largest memory supplier. This means that any price changes Samsung makes will affect the rest of the industry. If a giant like Samsung can’t keep its prices down, don’t be surprised if other memory chips start seeing prices go up as well.

Samsung is also rumored to be working with Apple to supply the memory for the iPhone 17 series. So, if Samsung hikes the prices of its memory chips, don’t be surprised if, combined with the US tariffs, the prices of the iPhone 17 end up being much more expensive than before.