Senior AMD executive suggests consumers buy cheap CPUs to combat memory pricing squeeze — says ‘consumers have a wide assortment of choice available for all kinds of price points’
An AMD executive says that they're not too concerned about the memory shortage, points out that AMD has a wide range of CPUs available "for all kinds of price points."
(Image credit: Future)
Memory prices are booming, pricing out many prospective PC builders in 2026. But, according to AMD's SVP & GM of the Client Business Unit, Rahul Tikoo, it's nothing to be worried about. During a roundtable interview with Tom’s Hardware at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada, we asked Tikoo how the company is responding to skyrocketing DRAM and storage prices, and how that might affect AMD going into 2026, as market intelligence firm IDC forecasts that PC shipments to fall by as much as 9% this year.
“We don’t see an issue there other than, you know, tightness leads to higher prices, eventually. So, from that perspective, I’m not seeing any impact to our business this year,” the executive told Tom’s Hardware. “I think that people who need the technology need the technology, and they’re going to buy the technology — though consumers might decide that they have a choice to make on how much memory, what CPU.” He also added, “Which is okay because we have a wide assortment of products available.”
Unfortunately, it offers little comfort to the average consumer — especially those who have already invested in a Zen 4 or Zen 5 chip, as the AM5 platform exclusively uses DDR5 memory. In line with what industry players are saying, you should only buy RAM kits or SSDs right now if you need them. If you don’t have an urgent requirement for more memory or storage, then we recommend you wait out the RAM-pocalypse before eyeing up a new upgrade, or find a solid bundle deal.
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