🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The AI boom is consuming the memory that gaming hardware needs

• The shortage is not a normal swing in supply. It comes from a long-term shift in manufacturing capacity toward artificial intelligence 1.
• When factories make one bit of high-margin High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI chips, they give up three bits of standard memory used in consoles and PCs 2.
• Suppliers such as Micron have already sold out their 2026 RAM output. The company also ended part of its consumer PC memory business to focus on AI customers 2.
• The squeeze has pushed prices sharply higher. DRAM prices rose 171% year over year by early 2026 3.

High memory costs could slow the next generation of gaming

• The cost strain has fueled talk that Sony and Microsoft could push next-generation consoles to 2029 to 2030 to avoid launching during a pricey period 3.
• The pinch lands as hardware moves to bigger memory targets, including the 16GB of RAM required for Microsoft’s Copilot+ AI PCs. That makes next-gen features too expensive for mass-market devices 1.
• Gaming also faces new competition for memory from other large buyers. Automakers now sign direct deals with chipmakers to lock in supply for vehicles planned for 2028 and later 3.