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Friday, September 4
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5 Memory Stocks Surging on High RAM Prices (And 4 ETFs)

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This article was first featured in BW’s investing newsletter, the Nerdy Investor. To receive it for free, you can subscribe here.

Shopping for a new laptop or smartphone recently? It’s becoming quite challenging out there.

An earlier survey by Gartner predicted a 17% increase in average PC prices and a 13% increase in average phone prices this year. Strangely enough, cheaper models are experiencing the largest price hikes.

Why? The answer lies in two words: Memory crisis.

The surge in demand for computer memory chips (known as random-access memory or RAM) from AI data centers is driving up prices. While this may be inconvenient for consumers, it spells good news for shareholders of specific memory chip stocks and ETFs.

Why does AI require so much memory?

If you’ve been experimenting with AI for some time, you might recall that chatbots used to lack object permanence, much like a newborn. Until a couple of years ago, even the most advanced AI models could only remember the last few messages you sent them. They had no memory of past conversations.

Things have changed now. AI research labs like Anthropic and OpenAI have recognized the need for AI models that can engage in extended conversations and handle complex tasks without losing coherence or forgetting their purpose halfway through. Consumers also want the ability to revisit old conversations and projects over several days.

This necessitates models with enhanced “memory” capabilities, or more precisely, models with significantly longer context windows.

Consequently, the RAM bottleneck has emerged. Memory chip manufacturers are prioritizing the production of high-end chips for AI data centers, depleting the supply of standard memory chips in the consumer electronics market (especially the budget segment). Experts anticipate the bottleneck worsening in the coming years. During a recent earnings call, Samsung CFO Soon-Chul Park mentioned that “the supply shortage will continue through 2028.”

Once again, this scenario is unfavorable for individuals seeking affordable phones or laptops. Nonetheless, it represents a lucrative opportunity for specific memory chip stocks and ETFs.

» Phones may be costly, but there are strategies to reduce phone expenses: Discover 7 ways to do so

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Top 5 memory chip stocks based on 1-year returns

Displayed below is a list of the top 5 performing stocks in the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM), the Tuttle Capital Concentrated Memory Stack ETF (HBMX), the Kurv Memory Select ETF (KMEM), and the Tema Memory ETF (DISK), ranked by their one-year returns.

The highest-performing memory chip stock in terms of one-year return is Sandisk Corp (SNDK), with a gain of 3150.61%.

Ticker

Company

Performance (Year)

SNDK

Sandisk Corp

3,150.61%

MU

Micron Technology Inc

664.33%

WDC

Western Digital Corp

540.58%

AEHR

Aehr Test Systems

511.61%

STX

Seagate Technology Holdings Plc

487.16%

Source: Finviz. Data accurate as of August 13, 2026, and provided for informational purposes only.

sentence: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Rewritten sentence: The speedy brown fox leaps over the lethargic dog.

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