Pay any attention to the computer market these days and one thing becomes abundantly clear: RAM—or Random-Access Memory—has gotten pretty expensive. Memory prices have already surged approximately 90% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the fourth quarter of 2025,

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.

A growing procession of tech industry leaders, including Elon Musk and Tim Coo,k are warning about a global crisis in the making: A shortage of memory chips is beginning to hammer profits, derail corporate plans and inflate price tags on everything from laptops and smartphones to automobiles

A boom of investment in artificial intelligence has led to an unforeseen problem: a shortage of the world's memory chip supply, which threatens to drive up the price of consumer electronics like

Apple has agreed to pay Samsung twice as much for the LPDDR5X memory chips that it needs for ongoing iPhone 17 production, claims a report from Korean outlet Dealsite. According to the report's sources,

Soaring AI data center demand is diverting memory production toward high-bandwidth chips, triggering sharp DRAM price increases and raising concerns of a prolonged global supply crunch.

Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's little chance of that changing anytime soon. More chips for AI means fewer available... Memory loss: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise The world has a memory problem, thanks to ...

Companies that make memory chips have seen their share prices skyrocket over the last year. Investors received even more good news this week.