Minisforum, a manufacturer of desktop mini PCs, said that it’s raising prices due to an increase in “raw material” component costs. The culprits appear to be rising DRAM and flash memory prices, where the market is beginning to worry and act upon possible shortages.
Last night, Minisforum posted a notice on X (via Tom’s Hardware) stating the company would implement a “slight price adjustment due to rising global material costs.” Notably, the company stated that the “barebone (bare system) models and products without DDR5 memory and/or SSD will not be affected by this adjustment currently.”
The company did not say how much prices would be affected, and whether the price hikes were a short-term adjustment or simply an overall increase. For now, other mini PC makers (as well as laptop and desktop PC makers) haven’t followed suit, leaving open the question of whether or not Minisforum’s decision was an isolated one or whether it’s the proverbial canary in the coal mine, signaling disaster.
There’s evidence to believe that the latter might be the case. Memory and storage makers began sounding alarm bells earlier this year, and the volatile component market has responded. Growth rates in the PC market have stuttered throughout 2025, but the demand for additional memory and storage by AI companies has been insatiable, driving prices higher and faster.
For example, TrendForce, which watches the short-term “spot” market in Asia, recently reported that the price of a 16Gbit DDR4-3200 DRAM chip has spiked by 15.9 percent in just a week. That isn’t helped by the fact that DDR4 memory production is winding down, limiting the available supply. Simple economics says that prices will increase as a result.
“Module houses with inventory are now holding back, further pushing prices up rapidly,” the firm said. “From the buyers’ perspective, even though the demand for consumer electronics has not notably recovered, there is a strong incentive to maintain safe inventory levels due to expectations of large and ongoing price hikes.”
Flash memory for SSDs hasn’t escaped, either — the market appears to be panicking a bit, grabbing available flash memory just to have it on hand, which further deteriorates market conditions. “Due to low availability of spots, as well as the general market consensus on further room for increment in 4Q25, buyers are now leaning towards seizing products to preserve their inventory, which further intensified the constraints of spots,” TrendForce wrote.
Spots of 512Gb TLC wafers rose by 27.96 percent this week, arriving at $4.576, the firm found. (Remember, these are 512Gbit chips, so eight of them would be needed to create a 512GB flash drive. And with flash drives now easily topping two terabytes and more, all of these price increases add up.)
It’s all a little unnerving, especially as we look ahead into the holidays and traditional Black Friday sales. Will other PC makers follow Minisforum’s lead? Between the shortages caused by hyperscalers and other AI companies, it’s starting to look like holiday deals may be harder to find in 2025.