Telecom operators planning aggressive fiber and fixed wireless broadband rollouts in 2026 face a serious supply problem — DRAM and NAND memory prices for consumer applications have surged more than 600% over the past year as higher-margin AI server segments absorb available capacity, according to Counterpoint Research.
Routers, gateways and set-top boxes have been hit hardest, far worse than smartphones; prices for “consumer memory” used in broadband equipment jumped nearly 7x over the last nine months, compared to 3x for mobile memory. Memory now makes up more than 20% of the bill of materials in low-to-mid-end routers, up from around 3% a year ago. Counterpoint expects prices to keep rising through at least June 2026. Telcos that were also looking to push AI-enabled customer premises equipment — requiring even more compute and memory content — face additional headwinds.