The Storage & Memory Squeeze of 2026: Why IT Leaders Must Act Now on Unstructured Data

The year 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for enterprise IT infrastructure budgets. While a year ago tariffs were the primary concern, now exploding demands for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and high-capacity flash storage (NAND/SSDs) needed for AI infrastructure are adding to equipment shortages and price pressures.

In particular, DRAM and SSD prices may rise by more than 50% in some segments, according to CNBC, as memory inventory has fallen sharply in the past year. Meanwhile, cloud storage prices are projected to rise in lockstep due to cloud providers’ reliance on these components and an expected surge in demand from customers needing a capacity backup strategy.

One strategy is to stockpile on computers, data storage and memory from vendors now, before prices go up.  Yet this is only viable if your budget can flex. Devising ways to be more efficient with infrastructure and data storage will be ...