If you’ve been watching tech news lately, there’s only one story you’ve probably seen… Black Friday. But if you’ve seen two stories, you’ve probably heard about absolutely crazy RAM prices. In addition to some stores selling memory at market prices like Lobster, Framework had to stop selling individual DDR5 modules altogether.
In a tweet from the company’s official account earlier this week, the manufacturer behind the modular and super-repairable laptops said it had removed standalone RAM from the official store “to prevent scalpers and preserve inventory for people who purchase it alongside our DIY Edition laptops.” The only other alternative apparently was to raise prices. The tweet was spotted by PC Mag.
Taking a quick look at the “Memory and Storage” section of the Framework Store, DDR4 SO-DIMMs are still available, but that’s it. DDR5 sticks are listed, but they are all marked as “coming soon”. Following the steps to configure a Framework Laptop 13, I’m offered DDR5 RAM from 8GB to 96GB in various combinations, priced from $40 to $480 USD. Compared to the same page on Archive.org, these prices appear to have remained in place since at least March 2025. As usual, Framework gives you the option of not buying RAM and finding it elsewhere.
RAM prices are becoming ridiculous as data center construction eats up industrial production capacity. This is particularly noticeable for consumer memory upgrade packages intended to be installed on laptops or desktops by the end user and, to a lesser extent, on SSD storage drives. Price increases of 100 percent, even 300 percent, are observed. Large companies like Lenovo can use economies of scale and stockpiling to help smooth out the wrinkles, but small manufacturers and end users are essentially stuck with huge bills…and hoping for a bubble to burst.
