The era of cheap, abundant computer memory may not be coming back. According to Tom's Hardware, Lenovo used the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC 2026) this past week to deliver a blunt message about the strained market for RAM: "it will never be like it was last year."
The outlet reports that a Lenovo executive framed the ongoing memory crunch — which the industry has nicknamed the "RAMageddon" — as the new normal rather than a temporary disruption. Instead of promising relief, the company reportedly used its time at the conference to outline a "survival guide" for navigating the tight market going forward.
Memory is one of the foundational components inside everything from laptops and servers to the supercomputers showcased at ISC. When supply tightens and prices climb, the cost ripples outward to the businesses that build computers and, ultimately, to the people and organizations that buy them.
The comments are notable because they come from a major hardware maker speaking to a technical audience, and because they reframe expectations. Rather than treating the shortage as a passing squeeze that will ease once conditions improve, Lenovo is signaling that buyers and builders should plan around persistently constrained, costlier memory.
Tom's Hardware is the sole source for these remarks, and the report centers on the executive's characterization of the market rather than specific pricing figures or forecasts.
Why it matters: if a company the size of Lenovo believes elevated memory costs are here to stay, it suggests higher prices for computers and data-center hardware could persist well beyond a single bad year.