The AI craze is driving up the prices of electronic devices.

Currently, the concentration of resources on building data centers for artificial intelligence (AI) is leading to a shortage of memory chips and increasing the prices of the most common consumer electronics, especially storage devices such as SSDs, memory cards, and USB drives.

A 4TB portable hard drive on one of the largest e-commerce sites in the US, even after a sale, has increased in price by nearly 350% compared to a year ago, and there isn't much stock left.

A survey by PCWorld shows that all types of storage devices, such as USB-A, USB-C, SD cards, and MicroSD cards, have seen significant price increases over the past year. Some types have more than doubled in price.

These price increases stem from persistent limitations in the production of memory chips and storage devices, making even the most basic external storage solutions more expensive for consumers.

This trend was summarized by Reuters in a statement from the chairman of South Korean conglomerate SK Group, who predicted a shortage of high-bandwidth memory chips, potentially leading to supply constraints for data storage drives. This shortage could last until 2030 due to the increasing demand from AI systems.

According to analyses by several newspapers, the market cycle in recent years shows that memory devices have experienced periods of significant price fluctuations. Therefore, most manufacturers have not aggressively increased production. However, this has had a strong impact on other consumer electronics industries.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this situation has led to a greater shortage of components for companies manufacturing smartphones, personal computers, gaming consoles, and many other electronic devices. At the same time, it triggered a historic price surge that began early last year.

Faced with soaring memory chip prices, the world's largest electronics companies are considering a variety of difficult response options, such as raising product prices, absorbing the increased costs themselves, or adjusting product specifications.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that the CEO of a major telecommunications company stated that while this price increase primarily affects smartphones, it could also impact the cost of routers. This is because memory chips are essential components in almost all modern electronic devices.

The explosion of AI is shifting the supply-demand balance in the global memory chip market. As production resources are increasingly focused on data centers, mainstream consumer electronics risk becoming even more expensive. This is an example of how the costs of the AI wave are spreading from technological infrastructure to consumer life.

Source: https://vtv.vn/con-sot-ai-day-gia-thiet-bi-dien-tu-tang-cao-100260527152606457.htm