There is a RAM shortage that is happening in the shadows that is starting to come to light. RAM or Random Access Memory is a physical component usually on a device’s motherboard that acts as short term memory. When you use an application on a computer the data necessary to run that application will load and be stored on RAM. The more RAM a device has the quicker it can be because it can access more necessary information without having to pull additional data from an SSD or hard drive. Standard RAM sizes range from 4GB-128GB. Historically, RAM was the more affordable piece to a PC, now, in 2026, RAM prices are going up by at least 3X relative to general economic conditions.
This crisis is only projected to get worse in the near future. Micron, one of the main chip manufacturers in the United States recently announced that it is exiting from the crucial consumer market, to focus on enterprise and more in-demand sectors. Samsung is out of RAM. And OpenAI recently purchased 40% of the world’s RAM through 2029; yes, you read that correctly. These are some of the examples of how the technology giants are scrambling to feed their new overlord. With the shockwave of the democratization of LLMs and the breakout ChatGPT and OpenAI had in 2022 came a transparent resources war.
Leave a Comment