Acer Expects PC Prices to Rise by Up to 20% in Q4, Peak Around

Acer Chairman and CEO Jason Chen says PC prices could rise by another 5% to 20% in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to Taiwan's Economic Daily News. Chen reportedly said that DDR4 and DDR5 memory are no longer in short supply and that CPU supply is mostly fine, with only some low-end and mid-range chips still tight. Prices haven't followed this change, though. Memory and SSD costs are still high, so systems with more RAM or storage will probably see bigger increases. Chen expects the average selling price of PCs to peak around mid-2027, with a possible drop in the second half of that year.

Even if component costs fall earlier, it takes several months for cheaper parts to reach finished PCs. Chen also reportedly said suppliers keep pushing through price increases, some of which he considers hard to justify. He also pointed to expanding Chinese memory production, and by the sound of it, he doesn't think the shortage can run until 2030, as many in the industry have claimed. That capacity is still ramping up, though. Chinese giant CXMT is reportedly preparing to enter the NAND flash market with an R&D line, and YMTC is expanding with new fabs. Read full story