The Rise of RAM Prices and AI Data Centers

By Amir Muhammad | January 28, 2025

In the 2025 holiday season, you may have had to hold off on the idea of buying those parts for your PC or even buying a pre-built one in light of the recent price spikes of RAM (Random Access Memory).

The price of RAM has gone up exceedingly, and the initial effect of prices on consumers is now being seen by manufacturers.

RAM, put in simple terms, is like the tool belt you need for work, holding data for apps and tasks, which increase the computer’s ability to get things done as fast as possible without relying on slower hard storage.

According to reports from PCPartPicker, TechRadar, and Glukhov, RAM prices have risen dramatically, with increases ranging from 100% to over 600% in some regions.

Artificial Intelligence centers have been one of the main contributors to these price hikes. The belief in AI being the future, as well as the push for it to be used within the government, means prices will be a problem well into the foreseeable future.

Manufacturers are shifting production from consumer-grade DDR4 and DDR5 RAM to high-margin servers or AI memory. So, in basic terms, they are no longer focusing on servicing gamers or those who work and need the RAM and are instead focused on the more corporate side of things, like building AI data centers.

You may be asking yourself, “Why weren't there more signals of this price hike?” There definitely were, from companies like NVIDIA making AI-specific GPUs, which run large AI models for things like generative tasks.

For a long time, NVIDIA was centered on gamers when creating their graphics cards, and their sudden shift to supporting AI showed the direction the market was going, since NVIDIA is considered one of the most highly traded stocks.

This new trend will be horrendous not only for us, the consumer, but for the environment as well.

These data centers create electronic waste like mercury and lead, which are hazardous, and use extreme amounts of water. It has been stated that AI infrastructure consumes six times more water than Denmark, which is very problematic. 26% of the global population, which is about 2.1 billion people, lack access to safe drinking water.

A request made through ChatGPT, for example, consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google search.

Is AI all bad? No. It allows for faster productivity, enhanced data analysis, and better capability when making searches. The popularity of the use of AI has only increased over these past few years with the use of programs like ChatGPT and other platforms that serve the same purpose.

However, in the long run, the benefits will need to outweigh the many problems for it to make sense to continue, especially lowering its harm to our environment. Humanity should always be placed ahead of technology.

On Earth, humanity has continued to innovate, and the question we need to ask is if this innovation is truly a benefit or actually a harm?