Memory Prices Rise, Nvidia VR Racks Soar

According to investment bank Bernstein, the start of mass production for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform is expected to drive memory prices even higher, with next-generation High Bandwidth Memory 4 (HBM4) potentially reaching US$53 per GB by 2027. As Nvidia is likely to pass rising component costs on to customers, the price of a Vera Rubin NVL72 rack system could climb to an unprecedented US$9.1 million.

Earlier, Morgan Stanley estimated that an Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 rack would be priced at approximately US$7.8 million, with memory accounting for around US$2 million of the total cost. That figure represents a 435% increase in memory value compared with the memory configuration used in Nvidia’s GB300 rack systems.

However, Bernstein argues that Morgan Stanley’s estimate does not fully reflect the actual cost trajectory of next-generation HBM4 memory. The firm believes that the higher pricing of HBM4 could push the final selling price of a Vera Rubin NVL72 rack to as much as US$9.1 million per unit.

According to Bernstein, the US$7.8 million estimate appears to be based on what it describes as “outdated memory pricing assumptions.” The discrepancy is largely linked to HBM pricing forecasts. Bernstein noted that applying an HBM4 price of US$16.6 per GB would produce a valuation similar to Morgan Stanley’s estimate, but such pricing no longer reflects current market conditions.

As demand for advanced AI infrastructure continues to accelerate, memory costs are becoming an increasingly significant factor in overall system pricing. Industry analysts expect HBM4 to play a critical role in future AI servers and accelerated computing platforms, potentially reshaping the economics of next-generation data center deployments.