Chinese memory resellers hit by sudden DDR price plunge as warehouses fill with stock

Merchant posts video of “mountain” of DDR sticks — losses pile up

It has been reported that a domestic memory reseller posted a video showing piles of DDR memory modules stacked across a warehouse, lamenting that inventory has “all been smashed into our hands.” The clip, published via a user on Phoenix New Media (凤凰网)’s Dafeng Hao (大风号) platform, captured an anxious shop owner asking on camera whether prices will ever recover after a sharp market drop. Reportedly, the rapid descent has left earlier purchase costs far above current retail values.

Prices slide quickly — examples and scale

Retail prices have moved noticeably in the last fortnight. For example, a 32GB DDR5 stick from Kingston (金士顿) is now selling for roughly ¥3,050, about ¥300 lower than the prior week, the seller said. Mainstream DDR specifications across the market reportedly fell between ¥100 and ¥400, with some SKUs plunging near 30%. That decline is small compared with the dramatic run-up many modules saw earlier (several mainstream SKUs had more than doubled), but it is enough to impose heavy losses on merchants who bought at peak levels.

Why it happened and what it means

The swing reflects familiar cyclical dynamics in semiconductor commodities: demand softness in PCs and consumer electronics after pandemic-era stocking, combined with lingering upstream capacity and rapid seller price competition, can produce sudden markdowns. Global DRAM supply is concentrated among a few suppliers — Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron — whose production choices ripple through downstream Chinese distribution. It has been reported that some small resellers are now carrying heavy financial risk as retail channels compress margins.

Short-term pain, longer-term risk

For Western readers unfamiliar with China’s tech retail scene: many small and mid-size traders buy large batches to chase margins and can be exposed to swift price volatility. Reportedly, the video and accompanying notice on Phoenix’s platform underline that the content was user-uploaded and not independently verified. Whether prices rebound depends on demand recovery and upstream production discipline — but for now many domestic merchants are left to decide: sell into a falling market or hold and hope for a turnaround.