2026-2030++ ... say goodbye to affordable BYO PCs? (RAM/SSDs)

[Adam Beckett]

I keep stumbling over business news articles intersecting with 'video game hardware' news and analyst blogs at an ever increasing pace.

The future looks grim?!

All this AI craze is making Fortune 500 and all the big tech companies buy up EVERY NAND chip available! DRAM, SSDs, HDDs ... the skyrocketing prices on Amazon & Co. are just the beginning.

I have read that a wide range of hardware component retail sellers are going to go bankrupt next year, according to their CEOs. They cannot sell other hardware, if they cannot offer RAM and hard drives.

As you well know, reading here, all the available RAM and hardware storage is being bought up by those 'AI' bros (Google, Amazon, Oracle, Nvidia, etc ... building power plants and data centers faster than you can say 'Double Density Read-Only Memory'.

If you have not build your 'future-proof' PC this year or the last, you will have to wait apparently a loooooong time (= four year drought is the minimum, according to chip maker analysts), before you can afford to buy your next PC ... unless, you are flushed.

I also have read that the entire NAND chip production for 2026 is already sold out (according to one Asian manufacturer).

One can only hope that this 'AI' craze truly IS a 'AI bubble' and that it will collapse sooner than later? Otherwise, buy your 64GB DDR5 sticks NOW, if you need them? Double the price is just the beginning?

I did not expect THIS development at the end of 2025.



... not to mention, what this will do, if you want your GabeCube early next year. This is going to hit them hard, just when they are preparing to launch. No backing down now. All booked, paid for and probably already being build in mass production.

[A&A]

Scrape the barrel if you want it affordable and don't let Windows and stuff to eat GB for breakfast.

[PopinFRESH]

Cool story...

What I find funny in this rambling is that you seem to think that DDR stands for

Originally posted by Adam Beckett:

...'Double Density Read-Only Memory'...

[Golden Meowlie]

High demand just means they'll produce more.

[HeyYou]

Double Data Rate.....

Ram prices are indeed getting stupid. Haven't looked at SSD's yet though. I suspect that several manufacturers will increase production capacity.... so, give it a year or three, and prices should come back down again.

[Rod]

Originally posted by Golden Meowlie:

High demand just means they'll produce more.

Nope you keep the same supply invest nothing and simply jack the price up by double. You will still sell the same amount of ram except you get double the price. There is no alternative ram vendor you can go to therefor you will have to wait on me to decide to behave otherwise.


Enjoy your zero regulation capitalism, Enjoy the competition with billionaires.

[C1REX]

Originally posted by HeyYou:

Double Data Rate.....

Ram prices are indeed getting stupid. Haven't looked at SSD's yet though. I suspect that several manufacturers will increase production capacity.... so, give it a year or three, and prices should come back down again.

Rumours say they are afraid of increasing production in case of the AI bubble pop. The money loss in such case could bring some companies to a brink of bankruptcy.

But we will see. It could take years to increase production anyway.

[Talby]

DDR4 prices are looking pretty good in comparison now

[A&A]

Originally posted by C1REX:

Rumours say they are afraid of increasing production in case of the AI bubble pop. The money loss in such case could bring some companies to a brink of bankruptcy.

But we will see. It could take years to increase production anyway.

A years ago was a point where 16GB DDR4 were 25 euro and 1TB SSDs were starting from 50 euro.

[C1REX]

Originally posted by A&A:

Originally posted by C1REX:

Rumours say they are afraid of increasing production in case of the AI bubble pop. The money loss in such case could bring some companies to a brink of bankruptcy.

But we will see. It could take years to increase production anyway.

A years ago was a point where 16GB DDR4 were 25 euro and 1TB SSDs were starting from 50 euro.

That’s what some of the companies refer to as many of such deals were sold below cost after the production far exceeded the demand.

[Golden Meowlie]

Originally posted by Rod:

Originally posted by Golden Meowlie:

High demand just means they'll produce more.

Nope you keep the same supply invest nothing and simply jack the price up by double. You will still sell the same amount of ram except you get double the price. There is no alternative ram vendor you can go to therefor you will have to wait on me to decide to behave otherwise.


Enjoy your zero regulation capitalism, Enjoy the competition with billionaires.

Because memory manufacturers hate money.

[HeyYou]

Originally posted by Rod:

Originally posted by Golden Meowlie:

High demand just means they'll produce more.

Nope you keep the same supply invest nothing and simply jack the price up by double. You will still sell the same amount of ram except you get double the price. There is no alternative ram vendor you can go to therefor you will have to wait on me to decide to behave otherwise.


Enjoy your zero regulation capitalism, Enjoy the competition with billionaires.

Real curious what regulation would have changed this.... It's supply and demand..... if demand exceeds supply, prices go up. Remember vid card pricing during covid?

[Faiyez]

I hope 32 gb DDR5 is good enough for the next 5 years.

[Heretic]

Originally posted by HeyYou:

Originally posted by Rod:

Nope you keep the same supply invest nothing and simply jack the price up by double. You will still sell the same amount of ram except you get double the price. There is no alternative ram vendor you can go to therefor you will have to wait on me to decide to behave otherwise.


Enjoy your zero regulation capitalism, Enjoy the competition with billionaires.

Real curious what regulation would have changed this.... It's supply and demand..... if demand exceeds supply, prices go up. Remember vid card pricing during covid?

Simple, to stop one sick minded corporation from buying up the supply that feeds their depraved vision. Nobody needs A.I.

[HeyYou]

Originally posted by Heretic:

Originally posted by HeyYou:

Real curious what regulation would have changed this.... It's supply and demand..... if demand exceeds supply, prices go up. Remember vid card pricing during covid?

Simple, to stop one sick minded corporation from buying up the supply that feeds their depraved vision. Nobody needs A.I.

That explains nothing...... There is no regulation that will change the facts. Besides, it isn't just one corporation developing it's AI, there are several.

[Rod]

Originally posted by HeyYou:

Originally posted by Rod:

Nope you keep the same supply invest nothing and simply jack the price up by double. You will still sell the same amount of ram except you get double the price. There is no alternative ram vendor you can go to therefor you will have to wait on me to decide to behave otherwise.


Enjoy your zero regulation capitalism, Enjoy the competition with billionaires.

Real curious what regulation would have changed this.... It's supply and demand..... if demand exceeds supply, prices go up. Remember vid card pricing during covid?

An economy where normal people have goods able to be bought for a normal price is healthy. But when normal people have to compete with hedge funds and trillion dollar companys for goods that is the economy broken. You claim supply and demand i noted little outrage. Thats the problem... You Americans think its dirty socialism. Well enjoy your shortages!