Basically every PC maker that’s made a public statement on the RAM crisis says it’s going to have to increase prices, or make other adjustments, like bumping mid-range laptops back down to just 8GB of memory. Lenovo, the largest PC manufacturer in the world, was a happy exception, saying it had enough RAM to get through 2026. But apparently that wasn’t enough to keep prices down.
According to a report in Reuters, the company’s CEO told them that it’s raising prices to “offset surging memory costs.” You’re probably tired of hearing about it, but yes, it’s because of data centers and AI, which are an entirely different market from Lenovo’s bread and butter. The warning comes despite the company’s CFO stating back in November that it was stockpiling memory and other critical components, claiming that Lenovo had enough for all of 2026. Two different statements to two different outlets from two different people at two different times, granted, but you can’t help but notice a bit of discrepancy here.
A recent sales boom could be a bit more of an explanation. The PC market is currently in a small but noticeable surge, as consumers and businesses with spending flexibility try to buy before prices go up. But it’s February — surely Lenovo can’t have blown through a “stockpile” in two months, especially since most of the PCs it intends to sell this year haven’t even been made yet. Lenovo is presumably hedging as its advance buying from suppliers either dries up or booms in price, the same forces that are affecting other large-scale suppliers. Smaller companies, like Framework, get hit a lot harder as they have to pay prices closer to us mere consumers.
That’s the macro read of the situation, anyway. You could also be more cynical and point out that if the entire industry raises its prices, Lenovo could simply bump up to meet them without much fear of consumer blowback. Lenovo could simply keep prices lower — it was notably the only desktop and laptop maker at CES that was willing to talk about prices for upcoming models. But if I’m thinking like a C-suite executive, I’d sure be tempted to move prices up to boost profits a little, taking advantage of the fact that buyers don’t have any real alternatives.
2026 continues to suck. In many interesting and varied ways, but in particular, for anyone who wants to buy things that go beep.