1. RAM scarcity & price‑gouging
“OpenAI (Stargate) kicked off the price increases a year ago by locking up 40% of the global supply of RAM output.” — phonon
“It’s pulling the ladder up behind them. OpenAI bought up more wafer contracts … now everyone else has to fight over what’s left.” — giantrobot
“Resellers are pulling DDR4 from surplus servers and selling it separately at 2× the price.” — mk_stjames
2. Unsustainable AI‑model economics
“I’m even more confused by the economics of the frontier model businesses. Even if they got preferential prices, they are still paying an inordinate amount for their infrastructure.” — master_crab
“I’m fully anticipating AI hardware demand to dry up once Anthropic and OpenAI start tanking financially … hardware companies will be as greedy as possible.” — seanp2k2
3. Consumers delaying upgrades
“I’ve been using computers for more than 40 years and the one component I have never seen fail is RAM.” — forinti
“I’m saving a ton of money by simply not upgrading. I intend to keep my current setup for 7+ years.” — datakan
“I will use this until the hardware stops. There’s a 0 % chance I’d buy hardware at the current prices.” — nickjj