The rapid expansion of data centers designed to power AI is driving unprecedented competition in the market for IT memory chips. And needless to say, the decision by industry giant Micron to exit the public sector market won’t help matters.
Computer memory crisis: a “full-blown heist currently underway”
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping numerous sectors, far beyond the simple fact that it is gradually and successfully performing increasingly complex tasks that until now involved intellectual and creative professions reserved for humans.
In fact, another battle is being waged from a more technical perspective—in the market for computer memory chips, particularly the well-known DRAMs. At the heart of the issue: data centers in constant need of RAM and computing power, to the obvious detriment of the consumer IT market.
This observation has been made by numerous IT specialists, to the point where the X account known by the pseudonym Deus Ex Silicium has described a “full-blown heist currently underway” in the sector, with prices for DDR4 RAM, DDR5, and NAND Flash prices rising sharply since September, and “peaks of over 500% expected by next summer.”
Memory chip prices have risen sharply since September
A memory shortage in which the giant Nvidia—which does not directly produce this type of chip—appears to be an aggravating factor, given its dominant position in the AI accelerator market. But it has reportedly finally been caught up in this crisis. In fact, some sources indicate that it is now shipping its GPUs without the video memory chips (VRAM) that were previously included, leaving its partners to handle the complexities of sourcing them.
Tech giant Micron is exiting the consumer market to specialize in AI
A complicated situation that could well become even more so, if we are to believe the recent announcement by industry giant Micron regarding its planned phase-out by June 2026 of its consumer memory chips, sold under the Crucial brand.
The goal of this decision? To allow Micron to exit the consumer market—where it has offered its products for 30 years—in order to focus exclusively on its most profitable business: selling memory directly to AI data centers operated by companies such as OpenAI, Google, and others.
This shift toward AI also affects Bitcoin blockchain miners, particularly as a way to increase the profitability of their power supply in the face of BTC mining becoming less and less profitable.
From a more technical perspective, the current memory chip crisis does not directly affect the production of the ASICs needed for their operations, but rather reflects a broader reorganization of the global semiconductor supply chain. In any case, an inevitable increase in operating costs appears likely.
