How AI Is Breaking the Global RAM Market

January 2026

IoT & Emerging Technology

Lorien Carter

Senior Research Analyst

Three companies control 95% of the world’s supply of Random-Access Memory (RAM): Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix. All three have already sold out of memory chips for 2026; indicating a severe shortage. But what is causing this, and what effect will it have on consumer tech prices?

Why RAM Has Suddenly Become a Bottleneck

RAM is the temporary memory required by a device to store and access data on a short-term basis; contributing to smoother processing as the device does not need to go into long-term storage to complete immediate processing tasks. Because of this, it powers the majority of consumer electronics: phones, PCs, and laptops.

However, there is another fast-growing segment that requires RAM: generative AI, which requires significant memory and storage capacities to store large dataset and train complex models. Demand for RAM for use in AI development has caused chip demand to significantly outpace supply. This is because the type of chips needed for AI high bandwidth memory chips (HBM) are far more demanding than the RAM used for consumer applications; using three times as much memory as required for consumer RAM chips. As memory supply is zero-sum, this new demand for AI memory production is hitting the consumer segment significantly. 

AI chipmakers such as NVIDIA are outbidding consumers and OEMs for the limited supply; leaving them facing a RAM shortage. AI-related demand is hugely profitable, more so than the consumer segment; causing memory chip suppliers to reallocate supplies towards building HBM AI chips, instead of consumer RAM segments. This has led to Micron announcing that it is no longer producing memory for consumer PC builders, in order to save produce for AI chips and servers. As a result, Micron has shut down its consumer-facing brand named ‘Crucial’, which provided affordable RAM and SSDs for gamers. 

In a further downstream effect of this AI boom, rising component costs will impact even low-tech devices, such as office routers, the smart display on a washing machine, or car information screens. While these don’t use RAM, the legacy chips that they rely on are also expected to become scarcer and experience price shocks. Memory chip fabrication centres have shut down their legacy chip production lines; converting these resources into creating advanced chips. 

This sharp reduction in the amount of consumer RAM has led to price shocks, which will continue to inflate more in the year ahead. In the last quarter of 2025, computer memory prices rose by 50%, which is expected to continue at least into Q1 of 2026. The COO of Dell, Jeffrey Clarke, said that Dell expected that the cost base of all its consumer products were going to increase due to the memory shortage. As a result, they plan to change its mix of configurations to reduce price increases. However, many consumer-facing OEMs will not be able to absorb significant increases in RAM price and will have to pass it on to consumers, or reduce RAM capacity in devices. 

When Will the Consumer Shortage End?

Priority for RAM purchasing goes to existing tech giants. Hyperscalers - companies building datacentres - have negotiated open-ended supply agreements with RAM manufacturers; ensuring they will be first in line to buy chips, regardless of the cost. This means that even if smaller companies could afford the exorbitant prices, they are essentially locked out of memory access by being the last in the queue. As a result, even when new supply is created, it will be preferentially allocated to AI-hyperscalers; so the consumer tech industry will experience more of a delay between higher supply lowering prices. 

While memory chip suppliers are working to build more fabricators, this will take a while to come into fruition. Due to the building and production time, memory supply is not expected to increase until at least 2028. As a result, the elevation in consumer tech prices should not be viewed as a temporary peak, but an ongoing plateau.

Lorien is a Senior Research Analyst in the Fintech and Payments team at Juniper Research, and specialises in analysing and forecasting emerging trends and innovations in financial markets. Her latest reports have covered topics including Fraud Detection & Prevention in Banking, and Digital Ticketing.