The AI memory crunch is a classic shortage cycle, not a permanent crisis — DRAM prices spiked nearly 187% year-over-year by late 2025, but history shows these booms burn fast and reverse hard. Memory makers like Samsung and SK hynix are cashing in now, but new capacity and cooling demand will flip this market. Smart money rides the squeeze and watches the exit.
The AI industry has effectively cornered the global memory market, locking up HBM supply through 2027 and forcing consumers, businesses and entire industries to pay more for less. This isn'tis innovation — it's concentration masquerading as progress, entrenching a handful of hyperscalers while everyone else gets priced out. A fundamental rethink of memory architecture is urgently needed before the gap becomes unbridgeable.
There is a 50% chance that the retail price of a 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6000 memory kit will fall below $300 by 2028, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
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