The rapid development of artificial intelligence is pushing up the prices of important components such as RAM and SSD, with prices doubling, even triplicating in recent months.
Now, the chain effects of memory shortages are starting to impact the larger consumer electronics market such as smartphones and personal computers.
Two giants in the memory chip manufacturing industry, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which account for more than 70% of the market, said their planned production capacity has been fully booked for the whole year.
According to market research company IDC, this unprecedented shortage of memory chips could last at least until 2027, as demand from AI data centers continues to exceed supply.
The research firm also warned consumers that this shortage could mark "the end of an era of cheap and abundant memory and storage", at least in the medium term.
A new report by the Financial Times shows that consumer electronics manufacturers such as Dell, Lenovo, Raspberry Pi and Xiaomi are warning that chip shortages could lead to price increases of 5 to 20%.
At an income report meeting in November 2025, Dell CEO Jeff Clarke said that the company has never witnessed "costs increase at this rate", while Lenovo - the world's leading laptop manufacturer - has begun to stockpile memory chips and other important components to protect itself from future shortages.
According to Peter Lee - an analyst at Citigroup, the demand for AI data centers is much higher than expected and "supply will remain scarce until 2027, with no plans to add capacity".
Recently, Asus announced that it will start increasing the price of some products from January 5, while Dell is also said to be planning to increase the price from 55 USD to 765 USD for its high-end memory product line.
However, technology giants like Apple and Samsung may be less affected by these price increases because they have long-term supply agreements.
