Your RAM is about to get pricier for a lot longer than you hoped.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly told attendees at a Singapore conference that "AI hardware will stay in short supply for the next 2 to 3 years," pointing to memory as the main culprit. A new Barclays report backs that up: contract pricing for DDR4 RAM jumped 24% over the past quarter, and DDR5 climbed 20%. Barclays also flagged that Micron, one of the largest memory makers, expects supply to stay constrained through 2028. Retail prices already reflect the squeeze - DDR5 in Germany has reportedly climbed 544% since the shortage began last July.
Data centers building AI infrastructure get first pick of chip-maker capacity, because that is where the margins are. That leaves consumer RAM, laptops, and PCs fighting for scraps, and prices will likely keep climbing into 2027 and 2028 as a result. Micron itself has pointed to "physical AI," meaning robots, as another coming source of demand that will eat into supply further.
This isn't the first memory crunch to rattle PC prices, but a multi-year, AI-driven shortage is a different animal than a typical supply hiccup, and it's not clear new fab capacity arrives in time to fix it.