Old Memory, Soaring Prices: Legacy Tech in a New Age

In 2025, the price of a type of computer memory mainly used in older servers—16GB DDR4—surged dramatically, increasing two- to threefold, with the cost of a single module reaching over $60 at its peak. This was largely because several major manufacturers, such as Samsung and SK Hynix, decided to phase out production of this older-generation memory. They shifted their production lines to focus on more profitable, newer types of memory for computers and artificial intelligence applications.

Once this news spread, many companies that still relied on this older memory to keep their servers running panicked and rushed to stockpile it, fearing future shortages. With rising demand and dwindling supply, prices naturally skyrocketed. This situation, in turn, forced the industry to accelerate the adoption and upgrade to the next generation of memory products.