Memory shortages continue to plague the industry, directly impacting the retail prices of components and finished products. As for ASUS, we have some bad news: the company reportedly plans to significantly raise its retail prices in Taiwan. We’re talking about substantial increases of between 25% and 30%!
Major price hikes for ASUS in Taiwan!Â
Of course, the memory shortage is the underlying cause of the company’s upcoming price hikes. Our source cites the example of a 32GB memory module that cost around $370 last year and now costs over $2,400. With this in mind, it’s easy to see why prices are rising everywhere: the costs associated with this type of component are eating into companies’ margins.
For now, it appears that this increase is limited to Taiwan, but it’s not impossible that other markets will follow suit due to a ripple effect, given that supply chains are highly interconnected. Especially since ASUS is reportedly not the only one planning such increases. We can assume that MSI and Gigabyte are doing the same.
Despite these high prices, ASUS expects to see strong growth this year with a 10% year-over-year increase in sales. This would occur in a context where prices were already raised by 15% at the start of the year, even as they are set to face an even more massive increase.
Once again, the culprit lies with the artificial intelligence industry, which has massive demand for components. Despite this, memory chip manufacturers do not seem willing to invest heavily in new production equipment and are taking a more cautious approach. Indeed, a decline in demand appears to be anticipated by 2027, or even 2028… In the meantime, we’ll just have to grit our teeth and bear it until then.