HP Inc has revealed that memory (or RAM) now accounts for 35% of the cost of materials it needs to build a PC – up from between 15 and 18% last quarter. Speaking on the company’s Q1 2026 earnings call, CFO Karen Parkhill delved out numbers, saying that the company expects its Personal Systems Operating Profit (PSOP) margins will be below the long-term range.
One of the biggest PC-makers in the world said that it expects RAM’s contribution will rise through the year.
“We have seen memory costs increase roughly 100% sequentially, and we do forecast that to further increase as we move into the fiscal year. To put this in a little bit more concrete terms, we did share last quarter that memory and storage costs made up roughly 15%-18% of our PC bill of materials. We now currently estimate this to be roughly 35% for the year,” said Parkhill.
The company is also “configuring our products and shaping demand to align the supply we have with our customer needs” and “taking targeted pricing actions to offset the remaining cost impact in close partnership with both our channel and direct customers. This essentially means that HP is building a inventory of key parts to avoid shortages, and hints at some price increases for customers to offset the expensive memory.