Price of Computer RAM Skyrocketing

AI is skyrocketing the price of RAM. Computers, phones and tablets could be next.

From computers to cellphones and even certain features in cars, a lot of electronics rely on random-access memory, or RAM. It’s the fundamental hardware your computer processor needs to run applications, open files and let you surf the internet.

But if you've been in the market recently for RAM, you've probably noticed a major spike in prices as memory manufacturers pivot more of their production capacity away from consumer products to supplying AI companies instead, which are rapidly building data centres that need massive amounts of memory to operate.

“Prices have absolutely skyrocketed since the beginning of November,” Mark Chen, store manager at Uniway Computers, which sells custom-built PCs with RAM in Calgary, told CBC News in an email.

Back in October, Chen said he could find a 32GB DDR5 memory kit for under $130. By mid-November, the price had more than doubled to around $300.

Now, Chen says, it’s difficult to find that same memory kit for less than $400.