Asian consumer electronics prices rose 5.8% year-on-year in September, ending nearly two years of deflation. Significant regional differences in price increases were observed, with South Korea at 12.3%, Taiwan at 9.7%, Thailand at 9.0%, and Indonesia at 7.5%. This is driven by surging demand from AI data centers, leading memory manufacturers to shift production capacity towards high-margin high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and server products, squeezing the supply of traditional memory needed for computers and mobile phones, and pushing up terminal hardware costs. Related analysis shows that since 2026, the prices of computers, laptops, and tablets have cumulatively increased by 6.7%, higher than the 3.1% increase for smartphones. Currently, consumer electronics have a relatively low weight in the CPI basket in various regions, limiting their direct impact on overall inflation; however, if chip supply remains tight and low-priced inventories are gradually depleted, upward price pressure may continue into 2027, further impacting consumer demand and corporate profit margins.
