RAM prices are jumping like lobsters in the market

RAM is scarce and its price is constantly increasing, causing stores to not list prices but sell according to market fluctuations, similar to fresh seafood.

Computer RAM is in short supply, prices are skyrocketing. Photo: Corsair .

In the time of AI technology boom, giant data centers with billions of dollars in investment capital have a huge demand for memory. That makes the supply unable to meet the demand, pushing the price of RAM in the computer market to double within a few months.

According to PC World , many stores have lost patience with the daily price adjustments. They have stopped posting prices. A customer named Steve Lin took a photo of this situation at Central Computers, a retail chain in central California (USA).

The store said the global memory chip shortage has caused prices to fluctuate rapidly on a daily basis. "Therefore, we are unable to list fixed prices on some products at this time. If you have any questions or would like to know the price of any item, our team is happy to assist," a notice posted on the front of a Corsair RAM box read.

This is not an isolated case either. "Due to market fluctuations, please see a sales person for pricing," a notice from the Micro Center store was recorded by another customer and posted on Reddit .

The Verge believes that the RAM supply shortage will not stop at the computer market but will quickly have a wider impact, spreading to many fields such as game consoles and smartphones.

The store announced that it would stop posting RAM prices. Photo: Steve Lin.

Some of the big upcoming products could be affected by the skyrocketing memory prices. The handheld game maker Valve has also been slow to announce a price for the Steam Machine for this reason.

Another notable consequence is that GPU prices could continue to rise after a brief lull. The RAM on graphics cards is called VRAM, and the more the better. There are rumors that Nvidia and AMD are preparing to raise prices to make up for the shortage.

PC World believes that there are many reasons for the scarcity and sharp price increase of RAM. The demand for DDR5 memory increased at a time when DDR4 motherboards were withdrawn from the market, and the price of computer components in the US was greatly affected by tariffs. However, the most important reason is still the impact of the AI ​​"tornado".

AI data center projects are booming, and with them comes a huge demand for memory. The memory used in these places is not the same as RAM and SSDs in computers or gaming devices, but memory module production capacity from suppliers is limited.

As Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix tap into huge, lucrative orders from data center memory and storage companies, they no longer prioritize RAM or SSDs for the personal computer market.

Source: https://znews.vn/gia-ram-nhay-mua-nhu-tom-hum-ngoai-cho-post1605885.html