Dell prepares for global memory shortages with price hikes across its commercial PC portfolio

Dell

Dell has told its staff through an internal communication that it will raise prices across its commercial hardware portfolio from 17 December, marking one of the company’s most significant adjustments in recent years. The rise will apply only to business focused laptops, desktops, and monitors. Prices for Dell’s consumer line will remain untouched. The commercial division is a critical revenue driver for the company and accounts for nearly 85 percent of the annual takings of the Client Solutions Group, which supplies PCs and notebooks to enterprises. The shift reflects the growing strain created by global shortages of DRAM and NAND memory, which continue to disrupt supply chains.

The company explained that the scale of disruption has forced targeted pricing action to maintain continuity of supply and preserve customer value. Dell reiterated that its supply chain remains global and resilient, but warned that the broader market environment has become increasingly difficult. These pressures are now pushing memory and storage costs higher at a pace that suppliers and device makers are struggling to absorb.

From next week, Dell Pro and Pro Max systems configured with 32GB of memory will cost between 130 dollars and 230 dollars more. For customers selecting top tier 128GB memory configurations, the increase will range from 520 dollars to 765 dollars per device. Storage upgrades are also affected. Choosing a 1TB SSD will add between 55 dollars and 135 dollars to the final price. The internal price list circulated to staff also points to increases for AI laptops powered by Nvidia Blackwell GPUs. A configuration with an RTX PRO 500 Blackwell GPU with 6GB memory will rise by 66 dollars while a 24GB version will see a 530 dollar increase. Dell’s professional monitors are also included, with the Pro 55 Plus 4K model expected to cost 150 dollars more than the current list price.

A member of Dell’s sales team said contract based increases could fall anywhere between ten percent and thirty percent depending on configuration and deal structure. The employee added that the rising cost of memory is unavoidable at the moment, leaving customers with little choice but to absorb higher prices if they need new hardware.

Dell has already begun preparing its sales organisation for harder negotiations. In an earlier email, the company told its go to market teams to move quickly ahead of the increases and begin securing deals with priority accounts. Memory and storage supply, the company said, is tightening rapidly and contract prices have already risen sharply this quarter. Dell warned teams that placing orders today for future delivery will not lock in present pricing. Sales staff have been encouraged to accelerate opportunities, manage multi quarter contracts, and protect the pipeline across key customers. Some of the additional cost is being absorbed internally by reducing discount flexibility and accepting lower margins.

Senior leadership underscored the severity of the situation during Dell’s latest earnings call. Jeff Clarke, the company’s chief operating officer, described the scale of cost increases as unprecedented and said demand for chips is advancing far faster than supply. Dell is not the only company affected. Rivals such as Lenovo and HP are facing similar pressure as DRAM and NAND suppliers Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron raise prices. The surge in demand is being driven by AI infrastructure spending, with data centre operators securing massive quantities of memory and storage chips. This has left fewer components available for mainstream devices, pushing costs up across the industry.