Updated August 12, 2026 · reviewed against primary sources

Prediction — labeled as such

What will DDR6 cost?

No DDR6 module has a price because none exists to sell. But DRAM transitions are among the most repeatable pricing events in hardware, so this page makes its predictions from the last curve and says so plainly. When real prices exist, they replace this page's estimates.

The precedent: how DDR5 pricing actually went

• Launch (late 2021): DDR5 kits opened at roughly double the price per gigabyte of equivalent DDR4 — when you could find them at all; early supply was scalped hard.
• Year one: premiums held while platforms were scarce and DDR4 remained the volume default.
• ~18–24 months in: crossover — DDR5 reached price parity, then became the obvious buy as fabs shifted allocation and DDR4 began its retirement climb.

The complication this cycle: the AI memory market

DDR6 launches into a different DRAM market than DDR5 did. AI demand has been pulling fab capacity toward high-margin datacenter memory, and that pressure has kept DRAM pricing firm through 2025–26. Two effects to expect: launch premiums hold longer (enterprise buyers absorb early supply at prices consumers won't pay), and the crossover stretches if capacity stays tight. The DDR5 curve is the shape; the AI cycle is the stretch factor.

The prediction, in one table