A persistent whisper in the PC industry picked up volume over the holidays: ASUS might try to make its own DRAM as soon as 2026. Multiple outlets are pointing to a Persian tech site, Sakhtafzarmag, which says ASUS would spin up dedicated DRAM production lines by the end of Q2 2026 if memory prices and supply don’t normalize.
Why would a motherboard-and-laptop maker even consider building memory chips? The short answer: money and survival. Since big DRAM manufacturers shifted huge capacity toward AI datacenters, consumer DDR4 and DDR5 supplies have tightened and prices have climbed. That squeeze hits laptop makers hard — ASUS’ ROG, TUF and regular laptop lines all rely on steady, affordable RAM supply — and when suppliers aren’t prioritizing your orders, you either raise retail prices or try to control the pipeline yourself.
The practical obstacles
It’s tempting to picture ASUS plastering ROG logos on memory sticks and calling it a day. In reality, making DRAM is a gruelling, capital-intensive business. Foundries and memory fabs require billions in equipment, a deep cadre of process engineers, and years of qualification work to reach competitive yields. Even established chipmakers don’t pivot overnight.
So what might ASUS actually do?
- Partner or contract: The most plausible path is not building wafer fabs from scratch but teaming up with a chipmaker or module assembler. China’s CXMT (Changxin Memory Technologies) has been floated as one supplier that could provide an alternative to Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix. But CXMT faces its own capacity and equipment-import hurdles under current export controls.
- Buy and rebrand: ASUS could also vertically integrate at the module level — sourcing DRAM die from third parties and making branded DIMMs and laptop memory subsystems, which is far less ambitious than wafer production but still gives tighter control over supply and margins.
- Pressure tactic: There’s a strategic angle too — publicly threatening to enter production can be leverage in negotiations with existing suppliers.
All of these options come with caveats. U.S. export restrictions on advanced equipment complicate fast scale-up in China; wafer-level DRAM production has steep lead times; and module assembly only helps if upstream die are available in the quantities ASUS would need.
Why the timing and the rumor matter
Analysts cited by the various reports expect the memory market imbalance to persist into 2027 or even 2028. That long tail gives OEMs incentive to explore unconventional moves. If an OEM as large as ASUS secures reliable supply (or just signals it might), it could nudge the market — either calming prices or forcing suppliers to prioritize long-standing partners.
The bigger story is about how AI demand reshapes the entire semiconductor landscape. Massive data-center purchases of HBM and server DRAM siphon capacity away from consumer channels; industry projects and experiments like Google’s Project Suncatcher underscore the scale of AI infrastructure bets, while services built on models such as Gemini are driving growth in compute and memory needs in ways few predicted a few years ago (see coverage of Gemini Deep Research and integration for how software demand is evolving).
What to watch for next
If ASUS moves beyond talk it will become visible in a few ways: partnership announcements with memory makers, investments in module assembly lines, or filings tied to new manufacturing ventures. Absent that, treat the story as strategic posturing — a vendor signalling it won’t quietly accept runaway component costs.
For consumers, the immediate impact is uncertain. The ideal outcome would be more stable prices and fewer delays for popular laptops like the ROG Zephyrus G16. The pessimist’s view: ASUS could simply internalize higher costs or sell proprietary modules at a markup. Either way, the rumor highlights how fragile parts-dependent supply chains have become when enormous AI demand pulls the centre of gravity in the semiconductor market.
ASUS has not confirmed these plans publicly. Watch for official statements or supply-chain filings early next year if this moves beyond rumor.