https://www.npr.org/2026/02/21/nx-s1-5719256/theres-a-shortage-of-ram-computer-memory-how-is-this-affecting-the-industry

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There's a shortage of RAM (computer memory). How is this affecting
the industry? Memory chips (aka RAM) are in short supply, globally.
Why and what does that mean for consumers

Technology

There's a shortage of RAM (computer memory). How is this affecting
the industry?

February 21, 20267:44 AM ET
Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday
Headshot of Scott Simon

Scott Simon

There's a shortage of RAM (computer memory). How is this affecting
the industry?

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Memory chips (aka RAM) are in short supply, globally. Why and what
does that mean for consumers

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

There's a RAM shortage at the moment. RAM, as in random access
memory. The memory computer keeps immediately at hand, so it can
perform tasks quickly. How can that be? Well, as with so much these
days, it all comes down to chips and AI. We're joined now by Sean
Hollister, senior editor at The Verge. Thanks so much for being with
us.

SEAN HOLLISTER: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: Why the shortage?

HOLLISTER: Well, AI companies have decided that they need so much RAM
that they are buying up the entire supply around the world so that
they can power these future AI networks that they believe might be
the future of all computing. One development over at a place like
OpenAI might use 20%, 25% of the world's whole supply of the wafers
that this RAM comes on. What that has done in the market is it has
meant that anything that uses memory chips, those - the price of
those memory chips, they have to pay three, four, even six times as
much to get them. And so that's going to raise the price of
everything else.

SIMON: Where are we experiencing this first?

HOLLISTER: We've already seen it happening with system builders who
are creating their own PCs because you're buying the memory as a
memory product.

SIMON: I've read that the gaming industry, and I don't mean Caesars
Palace, but PlayStation and Steam are getting hit.

HOLLISTER: Yes, yes. Valve Corporation, which makes the Steam Deck
gaming handheld, was about to release a living room gaming console.
They have had to delay it, and then they have to rethink its entire
pricing because of the RAM shortage. Sony may be delaying its next
PlayStation into 2029. Soon, we're going to see it happening in
phones as well. We saw it migrate from desktop PCs to laptops and now
phones, especially mid-range phones. Your $500 phone might cost
something like $600 later this year because 15- to 20% of the cost of
that phone, the material cost of that phone, is in the memory that
needs to go inside it.

SIMON: Will we see it - the effect - you mentioned phones. Will we
see it, for example, in automobiles, refrigerators?

HOLLISTER: I expect to see it in some way in just about everything.
If you have a smart fridge, that has memory in it. If you visit a
hospital that needs new equipment, that new equipment is going to
have memory in it. Some farm tractors have equipment in it. If you
have a cable modem that brings your internet connection into your
house and, say, you're renting that from Comcast or you're buying one
of those, the memory - the kind of memory used in those routers and
set-top boxes, that price - the price of that memory has gone up by
about seven times.

SIMON: Can they step up production?

HOLLISTER: They have tried, but it takes years for these companies to
build up new facilities. There will be some already coming online in
2028, but that's a couple of years from now. And the new ones, the
new facilities that they want to build, they're not in a huge rush to
build out lots of them 'cause they don't want to risk overproducing,
creating a glut of memory, and then losing money because of that.
They'd rather enjoy the profits.

SIMON: I mean, the way you describe it, everything's going to cost
more.

HOLLISTER: I expect so, just like with the tariffs and the chip
shortage before that, except here with memory, with all the
components that are going to these AI servers, there's no specific
end in sight. We don't know when the AI companies, the companies
building out this - the biggest buildout in infrastructure we may
have ever seen in the world. We don't know when that buildout is
going to end. We don't know when their thirst is going to subside.

SIMON: Sean Hollister of The Verge. Thanks so much for being with us.

HOLLISTER: Thanks for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAFT PUNK'S "END OF LINE")

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