RAM also known as Random Access Memory or just simply memory has been a critical component for the Personal Computer for as long as they have existed. Whether you buy a prebuilt or build custom, the amount of RAM is usually a driving factor when choosing a computer or its components. For a long time RAM has been one of the cheaper components of a PC but with the rise of AI and corporations restructuring, the price has recently spiked and they may not go back down anytime soon.
AI may have made day to day life much more convenient but that is not without price. Large data centers with server banks with high resource demand are required to keep these AI tools going. RAM is among one of the components that are in very high demand at the moment. The servers running the AIs in these data centers all require RAM and manufacturers have been restructuring distribution to meet these needs. The diversion of manufacturing capacity to AI servers has caused a shortage in consumer RAM. Crucial, a company that has been in the consumer RAM business for decades has recently announced that they will be pulling out of the consumer industry as their parent company Micron decided they want to focus on AI . This leaves only two major companies in the consumer RAM business. Those who are looking to build a PC have already been affected by the much higher prices for RAM sticks and the effects are starting to hit the prices of prebuilt computers as well. St. Mary’s students may want to save up a little more if they are planning on buying or building a PC. One possible exception from this shortage is the Mac and other Apple products. Macworld said “Apple’s next products are a mix of some high-end, high-margin Macs and value products that by definition have to come in well under the rest of the product line. It would surprise me if we saw higher starting prices for those products due to the current RAM situation.”. Apple users will probably not have to worry about rising prices for now.
The price will most likely not go down until manufacturing capacity increases. Creating new manufacturing facilities will take years and the demand for servers will only increase. It seems that people are going to have to put up with the increased pricing for the time being.
