Chinese DDR5 Prices Catch Up Fast as KingBank 32 GB Module Hits 3629 Yuan, Over 530 Dollars

The idea that Chinese memory is automatically the cheaper option is fading fast, and a new retail listing is a sharp reality check for gamers who were hoping domestic supply would stay meaningfully below global pricing. A recent KingBank DDR5 listing on JD shows a 32 GB DDR5 module priced at 3629 yuan, roughly 530$, a level that effectively erases the old pricing gap many buyers associated with China based brands.

KingBank has been closely associated with consumer memory kits built around CXMT DDR5, and that relationship helped fuel a short lived narrative that Chinese DRAM could become a cost saver, especially as Western pricing tightened. What this listing signals instead is that retail gravity is winning. When global supply is constrained and demand is concentrated where margins are highest, regional price differences tend to collapse. In other words, if the market is tight enough, cheap disappears.

The same trend is visible in higher capacity configurations too. The report highlights a 64 GB DDR5 6000 configuration retailing for more than 1000$, which reinforces the core point for buyers planning upgrades in 2026. Capacity is expensive, and the consumer segment is no longer insulated by a domestic pricing advantage.

The strategic driver behind this shift is not difficult to map. Memory suppliers have strong incentives to prioritize enterprise and AI driven demand where returns are higher and contracts are larger. In that environment, consumer allocations become the flexible buffer, and pricing aligns upward because inventory is effectively being rationed by willingness to pay. The report also points to CXMT planning to shift a significant portion of DRAM capacity toward HBM3, which is exactly the kind of capacity reallocation that tightens mainstream DDR supply and pushes consumer pricing toward a global ceiling rather than a local discount.

From a gamer perspective, the takeaway is practical and a little painful. If you were waiting for Chinese DDR5 to undercut Western kits by a wide margin, that window appears to be closing, at least in current market conditions. The only near term path to better value may be timing purchases around promotions, hunting for bundled platform deals, or choosing capacity targets more strategically instead of defaulting to the biggest kit available.

If 32 GB DDR5 is already hovering around 530$ in China, do you think prices will normalize later in 2026, or is this the new baseline while AI demand keeps absorbing supply?