---
title: "AI's hunger for memory is driving a chip shortage — and pricier gadgets"
description: "A shortage of the memory chips inside nearly every electronic device is rippling through the technology industry, as AI data centers soak up supply and the world's big memory makers shift production toward the more profitable chips that power artificial intelligence. The result: sharply higher prices that big companies can absorb — and smaller ones may not survive."
category: "Business"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/business
author: "Priya Sharma"
published: 2026-06-27T13:08:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-27T13:08:00.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/ai-memory-shortage-dram-prices
tags: ["memory-chips", "dram", "nand", "ai", "semiconductors", "supply-chain"]
---
# AI's hunger for memory is driving a chip shortage — and pricier gadgets

A shortage of the memory chips inside nearly every electronic device is rippling through the technology industry, as AI data centers soak up supply and the world's big memory makers shift production toward the more profitable chips that power artificial intelligence. The result: sharply higher prices that big companies can absorb — and smaller ones may not survive.

For years, the memory chips inside laptops, phones and game consoles were cheap and plentiful enough that their cost barely registered. That has changed abruptly, and the cause is artificial intelligence.

## A shortage made in the data center

The boom in AI has sent cloud companies racing to buy high-bandwidth memory, or HBM — a specialized, far more profitable form of memory stacked alongside the chips that train and run AI models. The three companies that make almost all the world's memory — Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron — have responded by steering their limited factory capacity toward HBM and away from the ordinary DRAM and flash storage that goes into consumer gadgets and everyday servers.

The scale of the diversion is striking. Analysts estimate AI data centers could consume [roughly 70% of high-end DRAM in 2026](https://www.idc.com/resource-center/blog/global-memory-shortage-crisis-market-analysis-and-the-potential-impact-on-the-smartphone-and-pc-markets-in-2026/), according to research firm IDC — an inversion of past cycles, when consumer devices drove the market.

## Prices are spiking

The squeeze on the chips left over for everything else has sent prices soaring. The research firm TrendForce sharply raised its forecast for early-2026 DRAM contract prices, [to a record 90–95% jump in a single quarter](https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20260331-12995.html), and Counterpoint Research has reported DRAM prices rising 80–90% over the quarter, with PC memory and flash storage seeing similar surges. [IEEE Spectrum](https://spectrum.ieee.org/dram-shortage) and [Tom's Hardware](https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/perfect-storm-of-demand-and-supply-driving-up-storage-costs) have described it as a structural shift rather than the usual boom-and-bust cycle, one that could keep prices elevated for years.

For consumers, IDC estimates that PCs, tablets and smartphones could cost 10% to 20% more by the end of 2026 — potentially one of the steepest years for electronics prices in recent memory.

## Big players cope; small ones strain

For giants like Apple and Microsoft, the shortage is a cost headache, not a crisis. Their purchasing scale lets them lock in priority supply through long-term contracts, and their margins can absorb higher component costs. Both have signaled price increases on some products as memory costs climb.

The danger is concentrated lower down. Mid-tier device makers, contract PC builders and hardware startups lack the volume to command priority allocation or the margins to swallow the increases, leaving them to choose between selling at a loss, delaying launches or exiting a product line. It is that tier of the industry for which the crunch is, in the words of one widely shared characterization, "existential."

## Relief is years away

New memory factories take years to build and start producing. Micron's new US plant in Idaho is not expected to reach meaningful output until 2027, and Samsung and SK Hynix can only modestly expand existing lines before then. With HBM largely sold out into 2026 and the AI build-out showing no sign of slowing, analysts expect tight conditions to persist into 2027 and 2028. A commodity that was abundant and cheap has become scarce and contested — and AI has rewritten the rules of who gets it first.