AI boom leads to storage shortages and price increases
The PC industry is heading for the next supply crisis: a shortage of memory chips caused by the AI boom is sweeping the market clean. For consumers, this already means skyrocketing prices, which are likely to get even worse in the coming months.
Asus, MSI and other major PC manufacturers are currently frantically stocking up on RAM. The reason: a massive shortage of RAM chips is spreading. According to DigiTimes, numerous companies are in a race for stocks, while data centres are practically soaking up the supply and private individuals are left empty-handed.
Asus says it still has two months' worth of memory stocks for the production of new and finished products - enough for the current year. However, if the situation does not ease, the company will adjust prices from 2026 onwards due to the shortages.
Large manufacturers buy on the spot market
Although large corporations such as Asus and MSI normally have contracts with memory chip manufacturers, they are now reportedly buying massively on the spot market, where prices are much more volatile - presumably to secure their supply. This is remarkable: normally only smaller companies do business there or large companies that need additional modules as if there is unforeseen demand. These activities massively increase price pressure - and this is already being felt by end customers.
RAM prices have risen significantly in recent days. If I take a look at the most popular RAM kit, the Kingston FURY Beast, in the shop, I can see that its price has almost doubled since August. The situation is similar for many other kits. From Japan, there are even reports of shops limiting sales per customer because supplies are limited. Even memory kit manufacturers are reportedly postponing the market launch of new models due to the supply crisis - products that were planned for the last quarter of 2025 are being postponed to 2026.
AI is eating up RAM
The global expansion of AI data centres is driving massive demand for HBM and RDIMM memory, displacing consumer memory and driving up prices. This could be felt for years to come. While companies are investing billions in AI hardware, memory chip manufacturers are converting existing DRAM lines to capitalise on this lucrative market. Most major memory chip producers reported record profits for the third quarter of 2025, and upstream companies are also benefiting from the massive increase in demand.
New factories? Not on the cards
However, manufacturers are cautious. Some experts are warning of an AI bubble that could burst at any time. This is why most do not want to invest billions in additional production facilities. And even if they were to start building new chip factories now: It would take several months, if not years, for them to come on stream and produce the urgently needed memory chips.
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