The little unsung and honestly forgotten part about the data center build out.... the memory chip supply!
It doesnt look like the price is going to lower anytime soon due to
a specific component called dynamic random-access memory or DRAM, which is used in AI data centers, saw a huge price spike in 2025. Memory prices are expected to rise another 40% through the second quarter of 2026, according to Counterpoint Research.
Seems like they just cannot build these chips fast enough
Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot stated “We’re seeing a combination of very strong demand from AI workloads and relatively constrained supply, particularly in high-bandwidth memory, which is essential for training and running large AI models.”
Yeah, see also #1363318
I've been following ram prices, its truly getting crazy. Mundane things like "32GB DDR4 sticks" are up 2x YoY
The projections for this year are even crazier....could double again.
At a certain point this will affect everything at consumer level: Phones, laptops, etc. All those software apps (ie. Electron-based) that loads a 1GB glorified web browser are going to feel the pinch soon....
is this related to a silver shortage?
silver is used in a lot of the stuff for data centers so maybe.... not sure what parts use the silver though.
Parts per million precious metals observed in DIMMs back in 2016:
source
I've heard 2 logical explanations:
Interesting!
I think the biggest issue for the manufacturers is the risk of implosion of bigger=better which would set them up with idle fabs at some point.
Dammmmmmm so that why Samsung is expected to announced a 140% jump in fourth-quarter operating profit, according to LSEG estimates.
Yes! They're laughing all the way to the bank.
Thank goodness I’m not in the market for DRAM
https://media1.tenor.com/m/oHmGCfehERUAAAAd/yoda-youwillbe.gif