AI boom causes consumer RAM shortage
ai demand for high-bandwidth memory is forcing manufacturers to shift capacity away from consumer electronics, raising prices.
surging ai infrastructure demand is radically altering dram manufacturing economics. major foundries are reallocating fixed wafer capacity from consumer ddr/lpddr to high-margin hbm for gpus. hbm production consumes over three times the wafer area per gigabyte compared to standard ram. this supply crunch will increase costs for pcs and phones, particularly impacting budget devices in emerging markets.