00:00If you thought RAM prices were already getting ridiculous, I have some bad news according to one of the world's
00:06biggest memory manufacturers.
00:08Things could actually get even worse before they get better.
00:11Micron is reporting record profits, demand for its memory products is through the roof,
00:16and the company says it expects the memory market to remain tight for years to come.
00:20And if you're someone who is thinking about upgrading your PC, building a new computer, or even buying a new
00:25electronic device,
00:26this could have a very real impact on how much you end up paying.
00:30So today we're going to talk about what's happening with RAM, why prices have exploded,
00:35how much of this is being driven by artificial intelligence,
00:38and why Micron doesn't expect the supply situation to improve anytime soon.
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01:09Now let's get into the RAM situation.
01:11For years, RAM was one of those PC components where prices could fluctuate quite a bit,
01:16but generally speaking, consumers had plenty of options.
01:19If you were building a new PC and needed more memory, you could shop around,
01:24compare different manufacturers, wait for a sale, and usually find something that fit your budget.
01:29But the memory market has been going through some major changes,
01:32and one of the biggest reasons is artificial intelligence.
01:36The AI boom has created enormous demand for high bandwidth memory, or HBM,
01:41which is used in AI accelerators and data centers.
01:44Companies building massive AI systems aren't buying a couple of sticks of RAM for a gaming PC.
01:51They're buying memory on an industrial scale,
01:54and that demand is having consequences for the broader memory industry.
01:58Micron is one of the companies benefiting enormously from this situation.
02:01According to the company's latest financial results,
02:05Micron reported $54.2 billion in revenue for the quarter,
02:09representing a massive 379% increase compared with the same period a year earlier.
02:15Its net income reportedly reached $38.4 billion.
02:19Those are absolutely enormous numbers, and naturally, investors have noticed.
02:24Micron's stock price has reportedly increased around 500% compared with a year earlier.
02:29So while consumers are looking at the price of RAM,
02:33and wondering why upgrading their computers has suddenly become so expensive,
02:37companies producing the memory are looking at something very different.
02:41They're looking at record demand,
02:43and Micron doesn't appear to believe that demand is going away anytime soon.
02:48Micron's CEO, Sanjay Murata, told investors that the company expects demand to exceed supply
02:53in both 2027 and 2028,
02:56And he went even further, saying that the industry could experience greater tightness in 2027 and 2028
03:03than it did in 2026.
03:05In other words, Micron isn't telling investors that the memory shortage is almost over.
03:09It's saying the supply-demand situation could become even tighter.
03:13That's a pretty important distinction,
03:15because if you were hoping that RAM prices would spike for a little while,
03:19and then quickly return to normal,
03:21Micron's projections aren't exactly reassuring.
03:23So, why can't companies simply make more RAM?
03:26Well, this is where things get complicated.
03:29You can't just flip a switch and suddenly double semiconductor prices.
03:34Micron is trying to increase production,
03:36but building and expanding the facilities required to manufacture advanced memory takes time.
03:41The company specifically pointed to the amount of time required to construct clean rooms.
03:46And even after those clean rooms are completed,
03:48you don't immediately have a factory operating at maximum capacity.
03:52There's still a gradual production ramp-up process.
03:55That's one of the reasons supply can't immediately catch up with demand.
03:59And there's another factor making this particularly important for consumers.
04:03Micron has already announced that it was leaving the consumer crucial business.
04:07That means the company is shifting away from selling memory products directly to consumers
04:12under the Crucial brand,
04:13and focusing more heavily on other parts of the market.
04:17And that's significant because if major memory manufacturers increasingly prioritize enterprise customers
04:23and AI-related demand,
04:25consumers could find themselves competing for a smaller portion of the available supply.
04:30Think about the difference between an individual buying 32 or 64 gigabytes of RAM
04:35and a massive data center purchasing enormous quantities of high-performance memory.
04:40The economics are obviously very different,
04:43and companies have a financial incentive to prioritize the customers placing those gigantic orders.
04:49That's where the situation starts becoming especially frustrating for regular PC users,
04:54because even if you're not building an AI data center,
04:58you're still affected by the same supply chain.
05:00And we've already seen reports claiming that some memory prices have increased by as much as 500% over a
05:0712-month period.
05:08There have even been reports of 128 gigabyte DDR5 kits reaching prices of several thousand dollars.
05:15Now obviously, most people aren't buying 128 gigabytes of RAM,
05:20but that's not really the point.
05:21The point is that when memory prices move that dramatically at the high end,
05:25it tells us something about the broader market.
05:27And this is where I think PC gamers and hardware enthusiasts need to pay attention.
05:32For a long time, one of the advantages of PC gaming was that you could upgrade your machine piece by
05:38piece.
05:38Maybe you didn't have enough RAM.
05:40You brought more RAM.
05:42Maybe you needed a larger SSD.
05:44You bought one.
05:45Maybe your graphics card was getting old.
05:47You replaced it.
05:48But that model becomes more difficult when the cost of individual components starts rising dramatically.
05:54And RAM isn't the only thing consumers have to worry about.
05:57The same AI boom is putting pressure on other parts of the hardware industry
06:01as companies build increasingly massive data centers.
06:05The irony is that artificial intelligence is being marketed
06:08as something that will transform practically every part of our lives.
06:12But one of its less glamorous consequences is that the hardware required to run all of this AI
06:17has to come from somewhere.
06:19And right now, companies are willing to spend enormous amounts of money to get it.
06:24That's fantastic news if you're Micron.
06:27It's considerably less exciting if you're someone sitting at home trying to upgrade your gaming PC.
06:32And according to Micron, we shouldn't expect the situation to normalize quickly.
06:36The company says demand is expected to exceed supply through at least 2027 and 2028.
06:42That doesn't necessarily mean RAM prices will continuously increase every single month until 2029.
06:49Markets don't work that simply.
06:51Prices can move up and down, new manufacturing capacity can come online, demand can change,
06:56and the AI market itself could evolve considerably over the next few years.
07:01But what Micron is telling investors is that based on the company's current expectations,
07:06the underlying supply-demand imbalance isn't expected to disappear anytime soon.
07:11And that's probably the most important takeaway here.
07:14This isn't simply a story about RAM getting expensive for a few weeks.
07:19We're potentially looking at a longer-term shift in the memory market.
07:23AI companies want more memory.
07:25Data centers want more memory.
07:27Memory manufacturers are investing in additional production.
07:30But building that production capacity takes years, and consumers are caught in the middle.
07:35So if you're planning a PC upgrade, what should you do?
07:38Well, I wouldn't recommend panic buying RAM just because prices are high.
07:42If you actually need an upgrade, shop around and compare prices before buying.
07:47If your current PC has enough memory for what you actually do with it,
07:50there's no reason to upgrade simply because you feel like you have to keep up with everyone else.
07:56And if you're building an entirely new PC, it may be worth looking at the total cost of the system
08:01rather than focusing exclusively on one component.
08:05Because the bigger question isn't simply how much does RAM cost.
08:08It's whether the current hardware market is going to make the traditional PC upgrade cycle more expensive.
08:14And that's something we're going to have to watch over the next few years.
08:17Because if Micron's predictions are correct,
08:202026 may not represent the peak of the memory crunch.
08:23It could just be the beginning of a much longer period where demand continues to outpace supply.
08:28And that raises a pretty interesting question about the future of PC hardware.
08:32At what point does the cost of supporting the AI boom start becoming noticeable to the average consumer?
08:38Because right now, we're already seeing one answer.
08:41Increasingly expensive memory.
08:44And if manufacturers continue prioritizing the enormous demand coming from AI and enterprise customers,
08:51consumers could have to get used to paying more for the hardware they're traditionally taken for granted.
08:55Whether that actually happens for years to come remains to be seen.
08:59But when one of the world's largest memory manufacturers is telling investors
09:03that it expects the market to become even tighter in 2027 and 2028,
09:08it's probably worth paying attention.
09:10And that's the situation with RAM right now.
09:12If you enjoyed the video, don't forget to give it a thumbs up,
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09:33Thank you for watching, and I'll see you next time.
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