Memory shortage to run until 2030: repair your laptop or buy new?
One of the world's biggest memory makers now expects the shortage to last until 2030, so fixing the computer you already own makes more sense than it has for years.
If you've priced up a new laptop or a memory upgrade this year, you'll already know things have got expensive. Several pieces of news this month suggest that won't change soon. Below we explain what has happened, who it affects, and what we'd suggest if your computer is starting to struggle or has just broken.
What happened
On 28 October, the South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix published its latest quarterly results. It is one of the handful of companies that make most of the world's computer memory. It said demand for memory chips will keep running ahead of supply until 2030. Most of that demand comes from the huge data centres being built for AI. The firm says it is building new factories but can't add capacity quickly enough. Its finance chief also said he expects fewer PCs and phones to be sold because memory now costs so much more.
Other recent figures point the same way. In a 21 October market update, the research firm TrendForce reported that supply of memory for PCs is set to shrink next year. It added that memory makers are pushing through bigger price rises in their contracts for the final three months of 2026. Earlier in October, the analysts Omdia and IDC both reported that worldwide PC shipments fell by around a fifth in the third quarter compared with a year ago. Omdia estimates that memory and SSD storage now make up nearly 40 per cent of the cost of the parts in a PC, up from about 15 per cent. IDC said it does not expect prices to get anywhere close to last year's levels.
Who it affects
In short, anyone planning to buy a computer or upgrade one. Higher memory and storage costs feed straight into the price of new laptops and desktops. They also push up the price of the RAM sticks and SSDs we fit as upgrades. Budget machines tend to be hit hardest. Memory is a large share of their price, so manufacturers either put prices up or cut the specification.
The news isn't all bad. The rest of a typical repair has not gone up in the same way: a replacement battery, a new screen, a charging port, or a clean-out and fresh thermal paste. So the gap between "fix it" and "replace it" has moved in favour of fixing, especially for a laptop that is only a few years old.
What to do now
Here's how we'd approach it if your computer is slow, faulty or broken:
- Find the real fault first. Slowness is often caused by a failing hard drive, an overheating fan, a worn battery or too many programs starting up, not by the computer being "too old". Many of these are cheap to fix. A proper diagnosis can save you from buying something you don't need.
- Repair parts that wear out. Batteries, keyboards, screens and power jacks are designed to be replaceable on most laptops. A new laptop battery can give an older machine a few more years of everyday use for a fraction of the price of a new one.
- Think twice before upgrading memory. More RAM still helps if you regularly run out of it, but at today's prices it's worth checking first that memory really is the bottleneck. Swapping an old spinning hard drive for an SSD often makes a bigger difference to everyday speed than adding RAM.
- Don't throw old parts away. RAM and SSDs from a computer you're retiring are worth more than they used to be. They may be reusable in another machine at home. Always have any drive securely wiped before it leaves your hands.
- If you do buy new, check the specification carefully. Look at how much memory and storage you're getting, and whether the memory is soldered to the motherboard, which means it can never be upgraded. Analysts have suggested retailers may discount stock they need to clear, so prices are worth watching. But don't count on a return to last year's prices.
- Keep good backups. Whether you repair or replace, a current backup of your photos and documents means a hardware failure is an inconvenience rather than a disaster.
As a rough rule, if a laptop is under about five years old, has a decent processor and the fault is a single part, repair is usually the better value right now. If it needs several major parts, such as a motherboard plus a screen, or it can no longer run a supported version of its operating system, replacement may make more sense. We're always happy to talk that through honestly.
When to get help
If you're not sure whether your computer is worth fixing, Home Computer Repairs can take a look and give you a straight answer before you spend anything. We diagnose faults, replace batteries, screens and drives, and carry out laptop repairs for customers in and around Beckenham. We also offer home visits within 10 miles and remote support. Call us on 020 8658 4366 or ask for a free quote online.
Sources: The Register (SK Hynix), The Register (PC shipments), TrendForce