The RAM Shortage

[Moonface]

So if you haven't heard, or like me you haven't been really following it much, there is currently a severe shortage of RAM for consumer products which has caused it to see a massive price hike. Here's the simple summary of the events, reasons, and consequences behind this:

• The biggest names in the AI industry, including Google, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic, are buying up DRAM for their data centers in huge amounts. To make matters worse, the big companies that produce this DRAM such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, are shifting their resources away from consumer-focused products in favor of lucrative deals with these AI companies for DRAM.
  
  
• Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron control 93% of the entire global DRAM market. Any other company has a market share of less than 5%.
  
  
• Micron went so far as to announce they are winding down their long-standing consumer facing brand Crucial in favor of providing DRAM to AI companies.
  
  
• A key component for making DRAM is silicon wafers; however, these wafers are also used for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) which are used heavily by AI companies. Per NAND Research, “wafer capacity consumed by HBM exceeds that of standard DRAM by a factor of three.” Obviously, this further exacerbates the shortage of DRAM as the AI companies don't just require tons of it, but there are also less silicon wafers that can be used to make DRAM.
  
  
• Among the obvious things like consoles and PC's, DRAM is used in practically everything nowadays, including smartphones, smart TVs, and cars. It is basically the backbone of modern computing of any kind.
  
  
• SSD's are also being affected, as AI companies are also buying up data storage for their centers as well.
  
  
• As a result of this increased demand and shift in supply priority, RAM kit prices have increased by 252% from September to December, while the average price for SSD's has seen a 42% increase in the same time period.
  
  
• For some perspective, the Nintendo Switch 2 uses 12 GB LPDDR5X modules which have increased in price by 41%, and NAND flash which has risen by 8%. The likelihood that Nintendo will be able to absorb that increased cost is very low, and could force the company to increase the price of the Nintendo Switch 2.
  

Source: The Verge | RAM price hikes: the latest on the global memory shortage

As if there wasn't enough reasons to hate AI already, we now all get the joy of it screwing us no matter how much we try to avoid it. I avoid using AI like it's the damn plague but sooner or later the greed of the AI companies and the companies supplying them is going to creep in and infiltrate things I use in terms of price, supply and quality even if AI itself isn't even part of those things.

I guess it's a good thing I got a Switch 2 at launch and don't need a new laptop any time soon, and although there probably wasn't going to be a new console generation announced any time soon I really can't see Sony or Microsoft putting out a PS6 or new Xbox respectively when this shortage is going to make it a bastard to even make more of their current consoles. On the bright side, maybe this forcing a longer console generation again will push developers to eventually start optimizing their games to get more out of the hardware because there won't be new hardware to rely on.

[Maniakkid25]

Welp, as if there needed to be another thing to drive up the price of a Steam Machine...

The AI Bubble cannot pop fast enough. I can't wait for it to do so, and show that all these companies were holding on to sand the entire time, and they have to suddenly shift priorities again, as if it wouldn't have costed less to have never pulled out in the first place. Can't wait for the economy to implode once more in my lifetime! What is this, the third or fourth time?

[Moonface]

Welp, as if there needed to be another thing to drive up the price of a Steam Machine...

Depending on how badly this affects the price of the Steam Machine, there's gotta be a chance that the Steam Machine ends up being the most unfortunately timed gaming hardware launch of all time right? Imagine spending years developing that thing and right as you get ready to release it, you have to deal with unpredictable U.S. tariffs and this RAM shortage causing chaos with not only production but also pricing.

No idea if it's related to this or the upcoming Steam Machine but I did just see that the LCD Steam Deck is not being restocked at all. I assume it was just gonna be phased out anyway but the timing of it happened to align up with a time where it would be considerably more expensive to produce more of them anyway.