Hardware prices are climbing across the board, and it’s not your imagination. What used to be a straightforward hardware refresh is now a budgeting headache, even over just a few weeks. 

The Big Picture: Demand Outran Supply 

Modern infrastructure runs on a small set of critical components: 

AI data centers, cloud providers, and large enterprises are buying these in massive quantities. Their systems use far more memory and storage than a typical workstation or homelab box, and they buy in bulk. Manufacturers can’t add capacity overnight, so demand is growing much faster than supply. When that happens, prices move up across the entire ecosystem, from hyperscale to small business. 

The Core Problem: Memory Bottlenecks 

Most of the pain starts with DRAM and NAND, the building blocks of RAM and SSDs. Memory manufacturers are prioritizing high‑margin enterprise products like server‑grade RAM for large memory footprints, high‑bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI accelerators, and large‑capacity SSDs for data centers 

That leaves less production capacity for “everyday” hardware: desktop RAM kits, laptop memory, and mainstream SSDs. Supply into the consumer and SMB channels shrinks while demand stays healthy, so prices for those parts climb. Even if you’re not building AI clusters, you’re competing with the budgets that are. 

How We Got Here: A Post‑Cut Rebound 

There’s another piece to the story: the industry overcorrected in 2023–2024. During that period, PC demand dropped, inventories piled up, and chip makers cut production to avoid selling below cost. That worked for stabilizing prices back then, but it set up a crunch later. 

Now demand has come back stronger—especially from AI and cloud workloads—yet production hasn’t fully ramped back up to match it. The result is a collision between reduced supply and rising demand. The impact shows up most in RAM and SSDs.

If your design calls for more memory, more storage, or both, you’re sitting right where this collision hits hardest. 

A One‑Month Reality Check 

To ground this in reality, consider our small on‑prem rack we built just one month ago. The hardware list included things like backup power, networking, and basic rack infrastructure. Re‑pricing the same bill of materials today shows that costs climbed noticeably—without changing a single spec. Here are a few of the items for price comparison.

💰 Total Rack Cost: Then vs Now

Item	Price Paid (Nov 2025)	Current Price (Midpoint)
GoldenMate 1000VA UPS	$169.99	$209.50
NICGIGA 6-Port 10Gb Switch	$79.99	$114.50
GeeekPi 0.5U Rack Shelf	$17.09	$37.50
GeeekPi 10″ Cable Manager	$13.97	$20.00
GeeekPi 12-Port Patch Panel	$22.99	$29.50
GeeekPi 10″ 2U Vented Blank Panel	$15.19	$21.00
GeeekPi 120mm Cooling Fan	$13.98	$25.50

Total Cost Then: $332.20
Total Cost Now: $457.50

Difference: +$125.30 (~38% increase in just one month!)

Even patch panels, blanks, and accessories—items with no advanced electronics—have seen increases on the order of 25–100%. Rebuilding that same small rack today would cost significantly more, even when buying identical models in new condition. 

Why “Simple” Hardware Is Also Climbing 

The surprising part isn’t just the compute or networking gear—it’s the basic infrastructure components. Metal shelves, panels and cooling accessories are manufactured in lower volumes than mass‑market consumer hardware, so they don’t benefit from the same economies of scale. When raw material, labor, or shipping costs increase, there’s very little buffer. Those higher costs flow straight into the per‑unit price. 

You’re not only paying more because chips are scarce; you’re also paying more for the metal, plastic, and logistics. These parts have become more expensive, and there aren’t millions of consumers to spread that cost across. 

The Takeaway for Veloquix Customers 

The rising cost of hardware isn’t an abstract market story—it’s showing up immediately, even at the scale of a single rack. AI and cloud demand are pulling manufacturing capacity toward high‑margin and high‑density products, and the ripple effects are hitting everything from RAM down to fans. 

For organizations planning new deployments, the practical lessons are clear: plan earlier, validate pricing more frequently, and treat hardware capacity as something to be optimized—not just added. In a world where a month can move the goalposts, smart timing and right‑sizing matter more than ever. 

If prices can move this much in a single month, it’s a strong signal that hardware planning now requires tighter timing, better forecasting, and more flexibility than it did in the past.