And no, I’m not talking about our mascot.
If anyone has ever used any technological device ever (you reading this right now fall under this criteria), you’ve used RAM before. RAM (meaning Random Access Memory) is a pivotal component in every device. It provides your device with memory, allowing it to store live information and run more things at once. If you’re on chrome right now, you can hover over a tab, and it’ll tell you how much RAM the tab is using. Every device needs some sort of RAM, whether it’s a separate component or included within another part. Without RAM, you can’t run anything, or keep it running.
With the rise of AI, there’s a sort of crisis going on in the consumer market. For context, there’s a huge market behind people who buy parts and assemble computers themselves. These builds can get really pricey, but buying the parts and building them is not only fulfilling, but also cheaper than buying a pre-built computer. All computers and servers need RAM to run, so it’s an essential part of any build.
As you may or may not know, AI bots run on servers. That’s how they store conversations, and that’s how they communicate with you. Every time you send ChatGPT a message, a server somewhere in the world responds to you. Each and every one of these servers requires RAM to run. As AI companies get bigger, they build more servers, and buy more RAM, alongside other parts.
The problem with RAM is that it’s inside other parts as well. CPU and GPU both have RAM inside of them. So for every CPU and GPU made, RAM also needs to be made.
As AI companies build more servers, they buy more RAM, so the demand goes up…exorbitantly. The scale at which these companies build servers and buy RAM is unlike anything the industry has ever seen before. With so much RAM being bought, the supply dwindles heavily, and little is left for consumers, driving the price up the wall.
Most AI companies that are buying servers at this scale have money to spend, so they’re willing to bid high amounts of money for RAM, money that consumers don’t have. Obviously these companies that make RAM want to make a profit, so they sell to the highest bidder.
This has had DISASTROUS consequences for the consumer market. Prices are rising every day and are highly unstable. For example, I built a computer last year. I bought 2 sticks of 32gb ram for about $100 from Corsair. That same RAM is priced at $600 now, and is updating literally every single day. It was $800 a week ago, and there’s no telling what’s going to happen to the prices within the next couple months. It’s ridiculous, and there’s no feasible way to buy a computer at the moment.
This means that every single time you ask Chat a stupid question, or generate a video, you’re directly contributing to the RAM prices increasing. There’s literally no solution either unfortunately. The RAM companies are going to sell to whoever pays the most money, case and point. Consumers cannot compete with these gigantic corporations.
I can’t wait for the AI bubble to pop. It’s getting out of hand.
