Those agreements leave smartphone and PC manufacturers competing for a smaller pool of available memory at substantially higher prices. Memory prices have increased more than sixfold over the past year, according to Morgan Stanley, reversing a decades-long trend in which technological advances steadily reduced the cost of computer memory. The discussions underline how dramatically the memory market has changed as AI companies compete with traditional electronics manufacturers for available capacity. Earlier expectations that higher memory prices would cause companies to reduce technology spending have so far failed to materialize. The supply-demand imbalance in DRAM and NAND could persist through at least 2027, with manufacturers benefiting from higher prices as AI demand remains strong.