Prices for router and set-top boxes up nearly sevenfold, squeezing telcos and raising deployment costs

Prices for memory used in routers and set-top boxes are surging nearly sevenfold thanks to AI, raising fresh fears that the industry's silicon binge could leave telcos scrambling to get customers online.

Fresh analysis from Counterpoint Research suggests the cost of memory used in consumer hardware has shot up more than 600 percent over the past year as chipmakers quietly steer production towards higher-margin AI infrastructure. The knock-on effect is being felt most sharply in broadband kit, where DRAM and NAND prices are climbing far faster than in smartphones or PCs.

"Over the last nine months, smartphone memory prices jumped 3x, but the prices for 'consumer memory'-based broadband products jumped almost 7x," Counterpoint said. "Routers are hit the hardest, especially for OEMs with an unsecured supply and weaker negotiating power."

That leaves some of the telecoms industry's least glamorous hardware suddenly front and center in supply chain ...