AI memory crunch will make smartphones more expensive

Your next smartphone or PC could be more expensive with lower speed and less memory because of AI datacenters

AI data centers are draining global memory supply, forcing Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and NAND (Not And) flash memory used in smartphones and PCs to shrink or cost more.

This lack of supply will change devices, apps, and the mobile ecosystem through 2027.

When SK Hynix said its supply of AI memory chips for 2026 was already sold out, phone makers understood the message; the AI data centers would eat first, and everyone else would wait.

Inside device design teams the conversation has changed. Engineers used ...