The Memory Market Has Structurally Changed. Here's What That Means for Buyers and Sellers.
Last week, our Founder and CEO Margaret Upshur joined Claudio Chan of Smith and Nikolaos Florous of Memphis Electronic for a Procurement Pro webinar on the current memory shortage. The full session is available on demand and worth watching if you work in procurement, supply chain, or operations at a manufacturer that uses memory components.
One theme ran through the entire conversation: this shortage is not a cycle. It is a structural shift. AI is permanently reallocating wafer capacity away from commodity DRAM, DDR4 production is being wound down across all major manufacturers, and new fab capacity is not arriving until 2027 at the earliest. The conditions that made memory easy and cheap to source are not coming back on any near-term timeline.
"Memory is going to be a first-party strategic concern for at least another two to three years," said Upshur during the session.
What this means for how manufacturers source
That framing matters for how manufacturers think about sourcing. When memory was a commodity, procurement teams could shop around, wait for prices to drop, and rely on authorized channels to fill orders. That model has broken down. Authorized distributors are currently filling only 35 to 40 percent of orders for smaller OEMs. Buyers who have been waiting for the original part to come back in stock are losing time they cannot recover.
"The biggest misstep I've seen is customers coming to us having looked for an exact part number for 10 weeks," Upshur said. "They've lost that 10 weeks, it's gone."
What we are seeing on the platform
What the panel discussion reinforced is something we have been seeing directly on the Mobius platform. Memory RFQ quantity in Q1 2026 alone was 32 times the total for all of 2024. Average bid prices on memory parts increased 19 times in six months. Buyers are entering the secondary market who have never used it before, because the authorized channel simply cannot meet demand.
For sellers, the dynamic is equally significant. Components written off as excess or obsolete in 2023 and 2024 are now commanding premium prices. DDR4 inventory that looked like a liability 18 months ago is now one of the most sought-after categories on the platform.
The secondary market is not a last resort in this environment. For many manufacturers sourcing DDR4 and other legacy memory types, it is the primary option.
Watch the full conversation
If you want to hear the full conversation, including the discussion on supplier relationships, counterfeit risk, and design strategies for procurement flexibility, the webinar is available on demand.
For the full data behind what we are seeing in the market, including price trends, supply allocation by customer tier, and guidance for buyers and sellers, our DRAM Market Report covers it in depth.
Download the DRAM Market Report
