The rapid growth of AI data centers is creating a shortage of the memory chips used in everyday devices like laptops, phones, cameras, and gaming consoles.
The world’s three largest memory chipmakers — SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron — are shifting production to High Bandwidth Memory, specialized microchips that power AI data centers, rather than the DRAM and NAND chips found in many consumer electronics. With fewer traditional chips being produced, tech manufacturers are paying more for components and passing the costs to customers through higher prices.
Read “I used Claude to solve a problem that data centers helped cause for my photography business. It’s saved me thousands”: https://bit.ly/3SHI29M
And “I skipped college and now earn over $40 an hour in a blue-collar job. The AI boom is creating more opportunities for me”: https://bit.ly/4zMbdJE
00:00 – Intro
01:22 – Types of Memory & Storage
03:22 – The Rise of AI & HBM
04:53 – Higher Prices for Electronics
09:03 – Higher Costs for Professionals
11:39 – Foto Care
13:19 – The Future of Memory Prices
17:36 – Credits
——————————————————
#aidatacenter #memorychips #highbandwidthmemory #electronics #datacenters #SoExpensive
WATCH MORE:
Why Uber Is More Expensive … For Some People
https://youtu.be/gnjVqeBoaqs
The Fight To Make Expensive Stadium Food Illegal
https://youtu.be/j6G91ryji5s
How America Made The World Cup Unaffordable
https://youtu.be/dlkgv-rYE4o
Business Insider is a global newsroom covering business, technology, innovation, and the economy.
Visit our homepage for the top stories of the day: https://www.businessinsider.com/?utm_source=youtube
Sign up for our newsletters: https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter?utm_source=youtube
Find Business Insider on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/businessinsider
… on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/businessinsider
… on X: https://x.com/BusinessInsider
… on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessinsider
How AI Data Centers Are Making Everything More Expensive | So Expensive | Business Insider
Business Insider is a video channel brought to you by SloppBoxx.Com, a global newsroom covering business, technology, and the economy.

















































Read “I used Claude to solve a problem that data centers helped cause for my photography business. It’s saved me thousands”: https://bit.ly/3UtXAyA
“We opened a taco shop because Meta is building an AI data center nearby. Now 40% of our business is tied to it”: https://bit.ly/3UZurvj
And “The AI boom is gobbling power faster than ever”: https://bit.ly/4qKoIWc
I never,ever thought id live in a time where memory would actually become a appreciating asset. now I wish I would have stocked up on memory last year i coulda made a fortune on ebay rofl. in all seriousness though-this sucks!!! nobody wants these data centers anyway we need to start voting out politicans-democrat or republican-that keep letting these things be built in our backyards. now that im starting to see all the negative effects of these places ive gone from ‘meh, dont care either way’ to ya, these things suck. and im still a little torn i love chatgpt but not at the expense of the massive cost the data center build out is costing americans
Read “I used AI to solve a problem that data centers helped cause”
Also “The AI data centers are gobbling up power faster than ever and passing the cost on to us. It’s cost me thousands”
HBM memory is effectivly built from DRAM. The problem is lack of Fabs. When we are through the suplly side crunch, the memory business will go back to being a commodities business making almost nothing.
Hard Dives are now more expensive. I don’t know about Tape drives.
sigh. only hope is china. i hope they save the world again
It looks like I’ll never be able to build a pc at this point lol… I’ve been holding off ever since gpus went crazy due to crypto mining and now we have to deal with this bs!
The title is so misleading on purpose. It should be “Making Many Digital Devices More Expensive”
The ram and ssd are already in high prices and now they’re pumping motherboard too, whats next? power supply? Maybe the casing?😭
This woke media outlets pushes black people in all their videos. You think for a moment that’s taking place in South Africa or Nigeria.
I made so much money on micron and SanDisk 💪💪💪🤑🤑🤑🤑
STOP AI BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.
The most interesting part is that the story isn’t simply “AI data centers are buying the chips in our laptops.” The real issue seems to be how HBM demand is changing where memory manufacturers allocate capacity and investment — while DRAM and NAND remain highly cyclical markets.
That makes the bigger question fascinating: if AI companies are willing to pay far more for high-value memory, how much of that pressure eventually reaches ordinary consumers?
And if memory follows its historical boom-and-bust cycle, today’s shortage could eventually become tomorrow’s oversupply.
What I noticed is that people buy stuff they don’t really need… then complain about the price.
I was really hoping to build a Linux PC that was really capable for at least 5 years. I absolutely cannot now. The idea of even buying, much less building, a PC thats even as capable as one was last year for a decent price is impossible. Here’s to hoping China absolutely floods the market with RAM, or the AI bubble pops.
👹the problem is we don’t have enough warm shelves 🫃
This is ai slop. Computer chips do not work like the brain. Only a robot would want to say that 🤖. You have to be really brainwashed to think a computer chip can think like a brain. Of course a chip is seen as better because you just pump it with electricity and it never turns off. Not a very balanced person who never turns off 👹
They stole all our art and data to develop a product no one asked for, which is now inhaling energy and water like nothing else while turning everything digital super expensive… to eventually make us all unemployed and dependent. It’s the perfect global poor to rich transaction
This is bad