Reuters reported a crisis in the supply of memory chips due to the development of AI

Global tensions with a shortage of memory chips are forcing companies involved in artificial intelligence (AI) and the production of digital electronics to struggle to replenish stocks amid skyrocketing prices for the necessary components. This was reported by the Reuters news agency on December 3.

For example, Japanese electronics stores have begun to limit the number of hard drives that customers can purchase in one hand. At the same time, Chinese smartphone manufacturers are warning of a new round of price increases.

Supply disruptions have affected almost all types of storage media, from conventional flash chips used in USB drives and smartphones to modern high—speed memory storage used in AI chips in various data centers.

Economists and executives warn that a prolonged shortage risks slowing AI productivity growth and delaying investments in digital infrastructure worth more than $100 billion.

Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO of Greyhound Research, a technology consulting firm, said that memory scarcity has moved from company-level concerns to global macroeconomic risks.

It is noted that after the advent of ChatGPT in November 2022, which caused a boom in generative AI, there was a global wave of creating artificial intelligence-based data centers, which forced memory manufacturers to allocate more funds for high-speed storage used for AI.

In addition, Francis Wong, marketing director of Realme India, said that smartphone manufacturers may try to save on cameras, processors or batteries, "but the rising cost of memory is something that everyone should accept."

Without AI memory: What happened to RAM prices

RAM devices for computers have almost doubled in price since the beginning of the year

On November 4, the Financial Times reported that the Chinese authorities had introduced a subsidy system aimed at reducing energy costs for large technology companies that will use Chinese chips in their data centers to develop artificial intelligence systems.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.