In the secondhand market, buying and selling DRAM, dubbed "ram-tech (RAM + investment)," has been booming recently. As chipmakers focus on producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and the supply of standard DRAM plunges, "memory inflation," where new-product prices rise overnight, has energized secondhand transactions.
An analysis on the 26th of data from the past three months (Nov. 2025–Jan. 2026) on the secondhand transaction platform Joonggonara showed that memory-related transaction volume surged a staggering 759.7% from a year earlier. In particular, DDR5 transaction volume jumped 527.4%, and even the older DDR4 rose 322.8%, reflecting a shortage across generations.
The price surge is even more dramatic. According to the price-comparison site DANAWA, the lowest new-product price for "Samsung Electronics DDR5-5600 (32GB)" stood in the 700,000-won range as of the day. Considering it hovered around 130,000 won in the same month a year earlier, it has leapt more than fivefold in a year. As a result, hefty premiums have attached to used products as well, with a used 32GB Samsung Electronics RAM at times transacting for as high as 520,000 won.
On the ground, RAM is no longer seen as a mere component. For PC cafe owners who operate hundreds of PCs, RAM is a "core asset" that can be liquidated fastest in a crisis. A source in the Yongsan distribution industry said, "As new-product supply has fallen to about half of typical years, we're even seeing a reversal where used prices threaten launch prices for new items," adding, "Rather than handing over the whole tower, it has become industry practice to pull out only the RAM and sell in pieces through partitioning when market prices are high."
Among individual users, "RAM currency plays" are also active. Highly liquid Samsung Electronics RAM is sold at the peak to realize gains, and the funds are then used to cover system upgrade expenses. A user on a hardware community said, "The cost-effectiveness of the RAM I kept in a desk drawer beats my stock returns," adding, "Until the supply crunch eases, RAM is the most reliable safe asset."
The root cause of this phenomenon lies in manufacturers' "selection and concentration" strategy amid surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. As major manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix expand the share of HBM production, production of standard DRAM such as DDR4 has been pushed down the priority list.
Experts expect the supplier's-market phase to continue for the time being. Ryu Hyeong-geun, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "Even after conservatively stripping out phantom demand, this is an environment where supply cannot catch up with demand," forecasting that pricing power will continue.
An industry source said, "The current ram-tech frenzy is a distorted form of investment created by semiconductor supply-demand imbalances," adding, "Because prices can swing depending on manufacturers' inventory management policies and the speed of process transitions, excessive stockpiling beyond real demand should be approached with caution."