A series of events caused RAM prices to explode:
- Sam Altman locked up 40% of the world’s DRAM supply in October.
- AI chips (GPUs and TPUs) require HBM. Only SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron can produce it at scale.
- Google tried to secure more HBM for TPUs and was told it was “impossible.” The Google executive who failed to secure the memory supply was fired.
- Microsoft flew to Korea to negotiate memory supply. SK Hynix said no. One executive stormed out of the meeting.
AI ate the supply chain. The same RAM stick now costs about 3x what it did a year ago.
The first job AI kills: gamers.
A single 256GB RAM stick costs $1,400 more than an RTX 5090. Absolutely the worst time to build your own PC.