8GB LPDDR4 RAM Price Projection to 2030¶

Run the 8GB LPDDR4 RAM Price Projection to 2030 MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim¶

This Chart.js line chart projects the street price of the 8GB-RAM configuration of a representative current Raspberry Pi board (for example, the Pi 5 8GB or Pi 500 8GB) from today's price out to 2030. All three lines start from the same August 2026 price and then diverge into three planning scenarios:

Optimistic (green): new memory-fabrication capacity and slower AI demand growth let prices level off and then decline.
Average (amber): prices keep rising through 2028, then plateau at an elevated "new normal."
Pessimistic (raspberry): AI infrastructure demand keeps outpacing supply, and prices keep climbing through 2030.

How to Use¶

Hover over (or tap) any point on any of the three lines. The panel beneath the chart updates with a one-sentence explanation of the market reasoning behind that scenario's price for that year — for example, why the optimistic line turns downward in 2028, or why the pessimistic line keeps rising. The legend at the top of the chart can also be clicked to hide or show an individual scenario line for easier comparison.

Iframe Embed Code¶

You can add this MicroSim to any web page by adding this to your HTML:

<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/raspberry-pi-stem/sims/ram-price-projection-2030/main.html"
        height="462px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan¶

Grade Level¶

9-12, and useful for teachers/administrators planning a classroom budget

Duration¶

10-15 minutes

Prerequisites¶

Familiarity with the RAM shortage background in Teaching STEM During the Raspberry Pi RAM Shortage and the historical price chart in RAM Shortage Price Impact.

Activities¶

Exploration (5 min): Hover across all three lines at the same year (for example, 2029) and compare the three projected prices and their stated reasoning side by side.
Guided Practice (5 min): Ask students to identify the specific market assumption that causes each scenario to diverge from the shared 2026 starting price — new fab capacity, AI demand growth, or HBM prioritization.
Assessment (5 min): Have students argue, using the reasoning text as evidence, which scenario currently looks most likely and what purchasing decision a school should make under that assumption.

Assessment¶

Students should be able to name at least one supply-side and one demand-side factor that separates the optimistic scenario from the pessimistic scenario, and explain why a prudent purchasing plan should not assume the optimistic case.

Maintenance: Quarterly Data Update¶

The chart's numbers live in data.json, not in the JavaScript file, so they can be refreshed without touching any code. Run this once a quarter:

Check the current 8GB Pi 5 / Pi 500 street price using the links in Teaching STEM During the Raspberry Pi RAM Shortage.
From the repository root, run:

python3 scripts/update_ram_price_projection.py \
    --anchor-price <observed price> --anchor-date <YYYY-MM-DD>

This updates the shared starting point for all three scenarios and bumps lastUpdated/metadata.json. 3. If the new data point changes your read on a scenario's trajectory, adjust individual cells with repeatable --set SCENARIO YEAR PRICE and --reason SCENARIO YEAR "text" flags — see python3 scripts/update_ram_price_projection.py --help for examples. 4. Preview locally with mkdocs serve, then commit, push, and mkdocs gh-deploy once you're satisfied with the updated chart.

Run python3 scripts/update_ram_price_projection.py --validate-only at any time to check that data.json is internally consistent (matching array lengths, and all three scenarios sharing the same starting-year price).