# Historical memory prices 1960-2026

> Source: <https://dam.stanford.edu/memory-prices.html>
> Published: 2026-06-28 18:32:53+00:00

Historic and current **memory and storage prices**, collected in the spirit of
John C. McCallum's classic memory-price dataset — interactive, with the raw data downloadable.
Hover for details, click the legend to toggle series, drag or use the slider to zoom, and use the
camera icon to export an image.

## Price per gigabyte over time

Historical lowest $/GB on a log scale — one line per memory type:

**DRAM**,** NAND flash**, and** HBM**.## DRAM price by generation

The DRAM line above, broken out by generation across the full history —
Pre-DDR (SDRAM/core), DDR, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4, DDR5. (Generation is inferred from product
descriptions, so older points are approximate.)

## Accelerator cost breakdown

Modeled estimates from

**Epoch AI**: quarterly accelerator cost across the four largest AI-accelerator designers —** Nvidia, AMD, Google (TPU) and Amazon (Trainium)**— stacked by component (HBM, logic die, packaging/CoWoS, auxiliary), a** production-volume-weighted average**.## HBM price by generation

By HBM generation (HBM2e → HBM3 → HBM3e → HBM4). HBM is sold only to accelerator
makers on confidential contracts — there is

**no public spot market**— so these are sparse** industry-analyst estimates**(TrendForce / SemiAnalysis), not transaction prices. HBM4 is*projected*(launches Q3 2026). $/TBps is cost per unit of memory bandwidth (stack price ÷ per-stack bandwidth).## Methodology, sources and caveats

### Sources and method

| Category | What we track | Source and method | Reliability |
|---|---|---|---|
| DRAM $/GB | cheapest retail $/GB, overall and by generation (DDR3/DDR4/DDR5) | Deep history (1957–2024): the McCallum memory-price dataset
(
Mid-2024 onward: the cheapest new
consumer DIMM each month from
|
Reference + live |
| NAND $/GB | cheapest retail SSD $/GB, 2010–present | 2016 onward: the cheapest consumer NVMe SSD each month
from
2010–2016: four approximate pre-NVMe
anchor points (no McCallum-equivalent flash dataset exists). |
Live + approximate |
| HBM spend and cost breakdown | quarterly HBM spend ($B) and each component's share (%) of the accelerator bill of materials (HBM, logic, packaging, auxiliary) |
|

[TrendForce](https://www.trendforce.com)and[SemiAnalysis](https://www.semianalysis.com)(HBM has no public spot market); bandwidth from[JEDEC/Rambus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Bandwidth_Memory). HBM4 is projected.### Caveats

- $/GB is the
**cheapest retail price in nominal USD**— not contract, average, or inflation-adjusted, and retail lags contract pricing. - The cheapest listing often tracks an
**end-of-life generation being cleared out**, not the leading edge — the per-generation chart shows this. - These are cheapest
**listed** prices over time (via Keepa),**not confirmed sales**. For the SSD data, obvious posting errors are removed — any month a drive is listed** more than 60% below its own typical price**(e.g. a $130 SSD shown at $4) is dropped. - The DRAM line
**splices two sources at mid-2024**(McCallum → Keepa); a small step there is expected, since Amazon's cheapest clearance can sit below McCallum's representative low. - HBM figures are
**modeled estimates**(cost share and spend), not measured prices.

### Updates

DRAM and NAND $/GB refresh **monthly** from Keepa; HBM updates quarterly (Epoch AI).
The McCallum backbone and HBM estimates are fixed. The downloadable
[CSV](/assets/memory-prices/memory-prices.csv) lists every point with its source.

### About

Compiled and maintained by David Shim, Stanford DAM project. Questions or corrections:
[hsshim@stanford.edu](mailto:hsshim@stanford.edu).