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Global memory chip prices have been surging worldwide as supply tightens, making key components for phones, computers, and data centers harder to secure. The squeeze is being driven by demand for advanced memory chips from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and producers shifting capacity away from lower-margin parts for everyday devices.RT explores how the AI boom rewired the memory market, who is feeling the pinch, and when prices might ease.
The world is running into a shortage of memory chips that enable devices to store data and access it quickly. They sit inside almost everything from smartphones and laptops to servers, cars, and cloud infrastructure. In late 2025, supply is tightening so sharply that prices are rising week to week in some markets and big buyers are scrambling to secure allocations.
Retailers in parts of Asia have begun limiting sales of hard-disk drives to curb hoarding, while electronics brands warn that higher memory costs will feed into device prices. The squeeze is happening in both main memory families: RAM-type chips used in phones, PCs, and servers, and also in storage chips used in SSDs and device memory. A premium form of RAM made for AI systems is adding extra pressure – and that’s what makes this crunch different from a routine cycle.
Prices are jumping fast across the market. Industry tracking shows costs have doubled in some segments, while spot prices for popular RAM modules are up roughly threefold this year. For consumers, that shift is already visible on shelves: compared with summer, many widely sold PC memory kits now cost 50-100% more, and some standard 32GB upgrades are approaching $400 at major retailers.
The surge has a clear driver. AI data centers are buying memory at a new scale because AI servers need far more of it than ordinary systems, so the biggest tech firms are placing oversized orders just to secure supply.
At the same time, the three dominant memory makers – Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology – are prioritizing a premium, ultra-fast type built for AI accelerators (high-bandwidth memory, or HBM), diverting their most advanced production toward it and leaving fewer “everyday” chips for phones, PCs, and consumer storage. The industry is also coming off a 2022–2023 downturn, when makers cut output after selling memory below cost, and supply is still recovering from that pullback just as AI demand has hit full speed. With new factories taking years to build, supply cannot catch up quickly.
One clear sign of how tight things have become is Micron’s decision to wind down its Crucial consumer line by early 2026 and redirect output to higher-paying AI and data-center clients. The scramble is now so intense that US tech giants such as Microsoft and Google have reportedly been asking Micron for as much memory as it could ship, while Chinese players led by ByteDance are pushing Samsung and SK Hynix for bigger allocations. Samsung is even negotiating memory deliveries quarter-by-quarter with its own smartphone unit instead of signing long contracts. Industry sources quoted by Reuters describe the mood simply as “everyone begging for supply.”
AI doesn’t just add demand – it reorders the memory hierarchy. HBM for AI systems is built on the same cutting-edge lines that also make ordinary RAM for PCs and phones and storage chips for SSDs. When producers push more wafers into HBM, fewer standard parts come off the line, so the whole supply chain gets pulled upward into a premium tier and the mass market is left short. The crunch is unfolding as investors debate whether the vast sums flowing into AI infrastructure are inflating a bubble – a sign of how hard the industry is leaning into AI even as it squeezes everything else.
Consumers are starting to feel the crunch through everyday gadgets. China’s Xiaomi and Realme have warned that memory costs are rising so quickly they may have to lift smartphone prices, especially in the low-to-mid range where margins are thin. PC buyers, and gamers in particular, are getting squeezed as well.
Tech outlets report that RAM prices have jumped so sharply since summer that some common high-end 64GB kits now cost more than a PlayStation 5, hovering around the $600 level in major retail markets. For everyday buyers, that means fewer low-cost options and a longer stretch of elevated prices.
Analysts expect the shortage to outlast the latest price spike. Building and scaling new memory plants and advanced packaging lines takes years, and current forecasts point to tight supply and elevated prices lasting at least through 2027.
Demand from AI and cloud data centers is still growing faster than output, and suppliers are raising contract prices, indicating that availability is likely to stay constrained into the first half of next year. If the imbalance persists, the fallout goes beyond pricier gadgets. Limited memory supply can delay large data-center projects and slow some AI rollouts, while higher component costs continue to feed into smartphone, PC, and cloud-service prices, adding pressure across the global tech market.
