S’porean sellers are making money from old laptops, thanks to AI
Most people think that the hot trades today are obvious: gold, Nvidia shares, and anything related to artificial intelligence (AI).
But within Singapore’s electronics markets, another less desirable commodity is quietly rising in value: used laptops.
Yes—old laptops, which many people used to sell for a few hundred dollars or toss in the closet are now unexpectedly valuable.
And in places like Sim Lim Square, some businesses are already turning that demand into profit.
Why used laptops are important
In the tech world, we’re seeing a new kind of price distortion—and it’s being driven by the rise of AI.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the global semiconductor industry. Training and running AI models requires a lot of computing power, which in turn depends on large amounts of efficient memory and storage within data centers.
To meet this demand, major memory manufacturers such as Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have shifted their production capacity to high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and other specialized chips used in AI servers.
As manufacturers focus on AI servers, fewer chips are designed for everyday devices.
That means old, low-quality components, such as the random access memory (RAM) chips found in consumer laptops, are suddenly in short supply, causing what some industry watchers are calling the “RAMpocalypse.”
Prices have gone up a lot.
In some cases, RAM chips have jumped 300-400% in recent months, creating a supply glut in the electronic ecosystem. For consumers, this means that many devices will be harder to access, making the purchase of laptops and desktops out of reach for others.
In interview no The Straits TimesTK Lee, technology manager at Bizgram Asia, which sells new PCs and electronic devices, shared that the prices of new computers and desktops have increased by 50-100% on average. Even Apple recently increased the prices of its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models by about S$100 to S$450 due to the global memory chip shortage.
Lim expects prices to rise sharply as PC manufacturers liquidate existing stocks and negotiate new supply contracts.
It is a “highly profitable” business.
Amid a worldwide memory shortage, used laptop dealers in Singapore are stepping in.
At the shops in Sim Lim Square, some of them have adopted their own business model, focusing on disassembling laptops to remove RAM chips and other essential items.
“This business is better than gold or the stock market. The price of gold and the stock market have fallen, but the prices of computer chips have not,” said the seller. The Straits Times. He added that the business was “highly profitable,” although he declined to disclose margins.
Excluded parts are often shipped overseas, where buyers pay premiums for high-demand parts. Even spare parts of laptops rarely go to waste. Motherboards, cases, and other computer parts are often sold to repair shops or business customers—these parts are often used to repair other laptops, replace broken parts, or extend the life of older devices.
Alex Capri, a senior lecturer at NUS Business School, said the practice of sending used technology products abroad to salvage parts highlights a “secondary fluid market for consumer electronics.”
“It’s not cheap to tear down a laptop and remove the chip, so this suggests that these things are in high demand and command good prices,” he said. “It pays to do these scaling back jobs on a large scale.”
Some dealers have even found that selling these parts can be more profitable than dealing in new devices.
Another laptop seller, who spoke to him The Straits Times but asked not to be named, said profit margins on new machines have shrunk as prices have risen due to tight availability of key components such as RAM chips.
“There is more volume now to unlock profits in the used device market,” he added, noting that his main customers are in Indonesia and India.
The increase in used laptop sales and parts exports to Singapore is also reflected in non-oil resale electronics (NORX). NORX measures the amount of goods that were produced overseas, imported into Singapore, and exported in the same manner without conversion. PCs and PC components were among the top drivers in 2025.
With AI-related demand expected to grow, especially for high-performance PCs and servers, this secondary market for used electronics is likely to remain strong.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Singapore businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: Stenko Vlad via Shutterstock.com
