As if we didn't already know that the high-tech industry isn't exactly a made-up word, Samsung, which saw its profits drop a whopping 95% in the first quarter of this year, has announced plans to cut production of memory chips.

The bad news for PC gamers is that analysts believe this move will drive prices up, as Samsung is a big player in the market. Samsung has reportedly refrained from cutting production so far, even though its rivals, including SK Hynix, have already cut production and the market is flooded with memory chips.

"The supply-demand situation could improve more quickly as they are adjusting production and bringing memory chip output down to meaningful levels," Baik Gilhyun, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Co, told Bloomberg (opens in new tab )

Still, it won't happen overnight: DDR memory prices have already fallen about 50% in the past six months and are expected to continue falling for at least four more quarters.

Interestingly, Samsung's stock price actually rose 6% in response to the announcement of the production cut and profit warning. This was partly because the market expected more bad news and had already factored it in, but also due to the expectation that the production cut would lead to higher prices.

Samsung has reportedly managed to remain profitable recently due to strong sales of its latest Galaxy S23 smartphone, but the overall performance of the high-tech industry remains quite challenging.

This should mean even lower prices for all kinds of PC components, not just DDR memory, over the next six months until the market stabilizes and prices begin to recover. If you are considering buying or upgrading a new rig, this is a good thing to keep in mind.

The exception to all this, of course, remains the pesky megabucks GPUs. Can soaring Nvidia and AMD graphics card prices (open in new tab) really hold up against these continuing market forces?