«Avito»: demand for used SSDs and memory surges in Russia amid AI-linked shortages

The AI boom unexpectedly hit ordinary computer buyers in Russia. While manufacturers and suppliers direct memory and storage toward AI infrastructure, users are increasingly turning to the secondary market for SSDs and RAM.

Why Demand Has Shifted

In the second half of 2025, memory and storage began rising rapidly in price, and by 2026, the shortage became visible not only to server builders but also to regular users. The reason is that the AI infrastructure market is consuming enormous volumes of components: servers, training clusters, and storage systems require the same categories of hardware as consumer devices. When supplies shift in that direction, retail receives less inventory at higher prices.

On the Russian market, the effect was amplified by local factors. Complex logistics, lack of currency liquidity among importers, the departure of some direct vendors, and panic buying fueled by news of further price increases all weigh more heavily. As a result, not just individual memory modules or SSDs are becoming more expensive, but complete laptops, PCs, tablets, and smartphones too. For the buyer, this means one simple thing: upgrading home tech now depends not only on exchange rates but also on how many resources the global market diverts to AI systems.

• AI servers and data centers consume a significant share of memory and flash storage
• Import and logistics in Russia make the shortage more visible than on the global market
• Rising prices push buyers toward upgrading via the secondary market rather than stores
• Not just components are getting more expensive—all devices using memory and SSDs are

Secondary Market Figures

The most notable shift is visible on resale platforms. According to Avito, between December 2025 and February 2026, used SSD sales grew 5.5 times year-over-year. Used RAM sales nearly doubled over the same period, while hard drives increased 43%. This looks like a clear signal: some buyers are no longer waiting for prices on new hardware to fall and are choosing what they can buy right now.

Interestingly, demand is growing not only for used components. New SSDs on the same platform showed approximately 150% sales growth year-over-year, while new RAM modules grew 67%. Yet the scale of secondary market supply is already enormous: just listings related to RAM on the platform number over 100,000 across the country. This shows the market has already adapted to the shortage and created an alternative supply channel for those unwilling to overpay retail.

The picture among other players is mixed. Wildberries reported strong growth in new internal SSD, RAM, and hard drive sales in January-February 2026. But distributors see the situation less optimistically: in ruble terms, the market may have held steady, while unit sales fell due to the price spike. This is especially noticeable with memory, where unit sales declines estimated by market participants reach 40–50%.

"In ruble terms, sales remained at previous levels."

The Price of Savings

The reason for secondary market popularity is simple: the price difference became too noticeable. According to Avito, used components cost on average about 2.5 times less than new ones. For a buyer who needs to revive a laptop, expand memory on a work PC, or quickly replace a failed drive, this is often the only rational scenario. The market shows RAM at around 5,000 rubles versus 13,000 for a new equivalent, and SSDs at about 4,000 versus 8,000 rubles in stores.

But this savings comes with significant risk. With SSDs and hard drives, a seller can hide the actual degree of wear, and diagnostic utilities don't always reveal the full operating history. RAM is no different: it's technically possible to swap in cheaper or lower-capacity chips and pass off the module as a different configuration. For the average buyer, this means one simple thing—the secondary market saves your budget but requires far more due diligence than a regular retail purchase.

What It Means

The story of SSDs and RAM shows that AI is already affecting not just the accelerator and data center markets, but basic consumer components. When the AI sector starts "vacuuming up" memory and storage, the secondary market wins while the ordinary user pays either in money or in additional risk. For the market, this is an important signal: the infrastructure boom around AI has stopped being an abstraction and is directly changing how mass-market electronics consumers behave.