Micron exited the consumer DRAM market in December 2025, leaving Samsung and SK Hynix as the only two major suppliers. It is now rumored that SK Hynix may follow Micron's lead, stopping the production of consumer DRAM and NAND chips.
What’s crazy is that they aren’t just doing this because they make more money with AI. They’re doing this because these AI companies have basically pre-ordered a fuck ton of components that have not been manufactured yet to be put into computers that haven’t even been made yet for datacenters that are not even built yet all on an electrical grid that hasn’t caught up. As long as the manufacturers get paid they don’t really give a shit, but this is so unsustainable it would be hilarious if it weren’t so catastrophic for the rest of us. And as long as the line goes up as they all circle jerk their money around they’ll all be happy and can pretend the economy is good.
Yeah more or less. The Verge did a whole podcast episode on RAM over the holidays. It was a good explainer.
Basically, RAM that goes into AI data centers isn’t necessarily the same as RAM in your computer. There are only 3 companies making RAM. They are altering their fabrication lines to accommodate for the commercial/AI ram so they can make more money. That means they can’t produce consumer RAM.
It’s hard and expensive to build RAM and chip factories because there is one company that makes the machine that does it. So anyone who wants to stay a RAM factory is at their mercy.
The Verge reporter said he expects ram prices might go up significantly more in the next 6months to a year.
The thing is, this is happening precisely because manufacturers are giving a flying fuck. They’re seeing that the AI bubble is about to burst, and that this increased demand won’t last for long. So why spend tons of money on expanding production capacity when said capacity wouldn’t even be used?
Not to mention that the current pricing bump is entirely on the OEMs, not the ODMs (ODM here being the DRAM manufacturers, OEMs being the RAM module manufacturers). OEMs have already bought and paid for the DRAM they’re selling right now, as it takes generally 2-3 months from manufacturing for the product to hit the shelves, and DRAM modules are usually bought at least 6 months, but usually 12-18 months ahead. Meaning these fuckers bought the DRAM cheap, saw the possibility of there being scarcity in the future, took a guess on how much they will need to inflate prices to reduce demand… And immediately jumped to those prices because if morons will pay £1000 for 64GB of RAM instead of £200, even though the production cost is still at £50… Well that’s just “good business” to maximise profits, innit?
They’re doing this because these AI companies have basically pre-ordered a fuck ton of components that have not been manufactured yet to be put into computers that haven’t even been made yet for datacenters that are not even built yet all on an electrical grid that hasn’t caught up.
throwing us AI slop summaries in our faces to create a demand that doesn’t yet exist, to generate a profit that will never exist.
AI companies have basically pre-ordered a fuck ton of components that have not been manufactured yet to be put into computers that haven’t even been made yet for datacenters that are not even built yet all on an electrical grid that hasn’t caught up.
What’s crazy is that they aren’t just doing this because they make more money with AI. They’re doing this because these AI companies have basically pre-ordered a fuck ton of components that have not been manufactured yet to be put into computers that haven’t even been made yet for datacenters that are not even built yet all on an electrical grid that hasn’t caught up. As long as the manufacturers get paid they don’t really give a shit, but this is so unsustainable it would be hilarious if it weren’t so catastrophic for the rest of us. And as long as the line goes up as they all circle jerk their money around they’ll all be happy and can pretend the economy is good.
Yeah more or less. The Verge did a whole podcast episode on RAM over the holidays. It was a good explainer.
Basically, RAM that goes into AI data centers isn’t necessarily the same as RAM in your computer. There are only 3 companies making RAM. They are altering their fabrication lines to accommodate for the commercial/AI ram so they can make more money. That means they can’t produce consumer RAM.
It’s hard and expensive to build RAM and chip factories because there is one company that makes the machine that does it. So anyone who wants to stay a RAM factory is at their mercy.
The Verge reporter said he expects ram prices might go up significantly more in the next 6months to a year.
The thing is, this is happening precisely because manufacturers are giving a flying fuck. They’re seeing that the AI bubble is about to burst, and that this increased demand won’t last for long. So why spend tons of money on expanding production capacity when said capacity wouldn’t even be used?
Not to mention that the current pricing bump is entirely on the OEMs, not the ODMs (ODM here being the DRAM manufacturers, OEMs being the RAM module manufacturers). OEMs have already bought and paid for the DRAM they’re selling right now, as it takes generally 2-3 months from manufacturing for the product to hit the shelves, and DRAM modules are usually bought at least 6 months, but usually 12-18 months ahead. Meaning these fuckers bought the DRAM cheap, saw the possibility of there being scarcity in the future, took a guess on how much they will need to inflate prices to reduce demand… And immediately jumped to those prices because if morons will pay £1000 for 64GB of RAM instead of £200, even though the production cost is still at £50… Well that’s just “good business” to maximise profits, innit?
throwing us AI slop summaries in our faces to create a demand that doesn’t yet exist, to generate a profit that will never exist.
What you just described has so many possible points of failure that I can only state that I hope any of it breaks and the circus comes falling down.
It will be horrendous to see the aftermath.
I hope we will see RAM at volume discount. I want to see these companies hurting to attempt to liquidate a fraction of the inventory.
Beautiful. The very definition of a bubble.
Isnt some AI bro hoarding a fuckton of CPUs because there arent enough servers to put them into?
Yeah. There’s been reports of silicon wafers being hoarded too…
GPUs, not CPUs.
Hello depreciation!
Or would be if it wasn’t for all the market manipulation.