Will we soon arrive at the same situation in France? This is the question that we can ask ourselves when observing what is happening at the moment in the famous district of Tokyo Akihabaraparticularly renowned for its numerous computer equipment resellers. The current surge in DRAM prices, which is starting to also impact SSD et HDDis also accompanied by a shortage limiting store stocks. Their fears, and they say it openly: scalpers… These people who will come and empty their low stocks without any real need for the equipment, just hoping to resell their strips and storage for even more money in a few weeks or months if the shortage intensifies and prices rise further. A completely possible situation, since analysts estimate that this shortage could last several years.
As reported by the Hermitage Akihabara website, several stores in the neighborhood have started to implement purchasing limits.
At the entrance to the PC Shop ARK store, a message warns customers that it is no longer possible to purchase more than 8 products in each category: DRAM, SSD or HDD. Limits that are still high, but which could obviously become tougher over time.
At TSUKUMO PC, this limit is already stricter with a maximum of 4 desktop DRAMs, 2 laptop DRAMs, 2 SSDs and 2 HDDs per customer. The store nevertheless specifies that if a complete configuration is purchased, these quantities can be increased on a case-by-case basis, since the risk of dealing with a scalper is lower.
Since we are talking about TSUKUMO PC, its latest arrival of 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 C32 kits is a stock of the recent Crucial Pro OC. Their price in store? 31,980 yen, the equivalent for us of €195 including tax. To show you how quickly everything went, the store still has an end of stock of white CORSAIR VENGEANCE ARGB, also in DDR5-6400 C32, but this is a stock negotiated several months ago with the supplier. Bottom line, this end of stock is only 19,980 yen while it lasts, the equivalent of €122 including tax. There are also a few Crucials in C38 remaining below €120 including tax (always equivalent). Then it will start to bite very hard for buyers’ wallets…
