There is an unwelcome side-effect to the artificial-intelligence gold rush, and it is showing up on the price tags of everyday gadgets. A global shortage of memory chips is driving up the cost of laptops and smartphones, and it has now reached one of the most popular computers around: Apple's MacBook Air.
Why the squeeze is happening
The crunch has earned the nickname RAMaggedon, after RAM, the random-access memory inside every computer. It is being driven by chipmakers pivoting to high-bandwidth memory, a more advanced type in huge demand for training and running AI tools. That leaves less capacity for the ordinary memory that goes into consumer devices. The effect on prices has been dramatic: analysts at Taiwan-based research firm TrendForce say memory prices for PCs and smartphones are up around five to six times compared with a year ago. One Hong Kong retailer said sixteen gigabytes of RAM that used to cost the equivalent of about forty to fifty dollars now sells for several times that, and that his custom-PC business had halved since price rises began.
From MacBooks to new cars
Apple's best-selling laptop is already caught up in it. Anyone ordering a MacBook Air now faces a wait until the back half of August, or September for certain configurations, and Apple's marketing has quietly shifted toward the MacBook Pro, even warning that the Air is subject to availability. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports Apple is responding by raising prices and sourcing memory from Chinese suppliers. The shortage had already hit Apple's more niche machines, the Mac mini and Mac Studio, before reaching the Air. The boom has enriched the big three memory makers, South Korea's Samsung and SK hynix along with US giant Micron, but Samsung's own finance chief warned this week that the shortage will likely deepen in 2027 and stay tight through 2028.
And it may not stop at gadgets. Carmakers say the rising cost of in-vehicle computer systems could soon feed through to the price of a new car, which means the AI boom's hidden bill could land in a lot more wallets before it eases.
