Why Your Next Smartphone Or Laptop May Cost More In 2026? AI Boom May Trigger Global RAM Shortage But Here’s What You Need To Know

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the world, but its explosive growth is now creating an unexpected challenge for users. This rapid growth has created a global shortage of RAM (Random Access Memory).  

Industry experts claim that this shortage is expected to increase the prices of phones, laptops, and computers etc. over the next two years. 

As per the recent report, ChatGPT has emerged as the world’s most downloaded application which highlights the unprecedented pace at which AI adoption is accelerating. However, the surge in AI usage has sharply increased demand for computing resources, particularly high-capacity memory. As AI companies acquire vast amount of RAM to power and train their models, supply for consumer devices is shrinking, leading to their higher costs. 

AI’s Massive appetite for Memory 

Market leaders in AI, including Sam Altman of OpneAI and Elon Musk of Grok, have emphasized the growing need for processing power many times. The large-scale AI models require not only powerful processors but also enormous amounts of RAM. 

 Average RAM on a personal laptop contains 16GB to 32GB of RAM. AI data centers often rely on systems equipped with thousands of gigabytes, sometimes even several terabytes of memory. This imbalance has created intense competition for available RAM supplies. This storage is followed by an earlier shortage of graphic cards. 

Micron Shifts Focus Away from Consumer 

The pressure on memory supply intensified after a major announcement by Micron, which is one of the world’s largest producers of RAM. The company revealed that it plans to stop selling certain RAM products to consumer markets, choosing instead to focus on large scale AI data center clients. 

Senior executive at Micron Sumit Sadana stated that the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure has dramatically increased global demand for memory which results in the lack of consumer-grade RAM products after February 2026. 

Major RAM manufacturing firms including Samsung and SK Hynix are also prioritizing AI focused customers.