The RAM crisis is set to worsen, and your new devices might bear the cost.
Nvidia’s upcoming AI powerhouse may further strain the RAM market
The memory market is already facing significant difficulties, and Nvidia’s new Rubin platform might exacerbate the situation. A report from Fast Company, citing a forecast by Citrini Research, suggests that the forthcoming AI platform could demand over 6 billion GB of LPDDR memory by 2027. As LPDDR (low-powered memory) is mainly utilized in smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices, price increases could intensify.
If this report holds true, Nvidia may use more memory than both Apple and Samsung combined.
Citrini Research
How Rubin impacts consumer memory supplies
Nvidia’s Rubin platform represents the company’s significant advancement in AI hardware following Blackwell. It is designed to meet the rising need for generative AI tasks and real-time reasoning, with the upcoming platform expected to be twice as fast as Blackwell. However, this growth raises concerns about scalability.
Nvidia
According to Citrini's forecast, Nvidia's LPDDR demand is projected at 6.041 billion GB by 2027, compared to 2.966 billion GB for Apple and 2.724 billion GB for Samsung. Nvidia is anticipated to exceed the memory consumption of each company individually this year and to surpass their total LPDDR demand next year. This immense demand could put additional stress on an already tight memory supply, especially as Google, AMD, and other AI competitors continue to increase their LPDDR requirements.
Your next smartphone or laptop could be affected
As the memory shortage leads to noticeable price increases across consumer electronics, new devices are feeling the impact. Many gadgets from the pandemic era, such as TVs, PCs, and other items, are now due for updates, making replacements for smartphones and smart TVs significantly more expensive.
Nvidia
Concurrently, memory prices have reportedly surged by 150% to over 200% in the past year, with storage prices following a similar trend. The RAM crisis has reached such levels that even expandable storage might make a comeback in smartphones. While Rubin could be a major success for Nvidia, consumers might face noticeably higher prices when making their next tech purchases.
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The RAM crisis is set to worsen, and your new devices might bear the cost.
A recent forecast indicates that Nvidia’s Rubin AI platform might use more than 6 billion GB of LPDDR memory by 2027, which could strain supply chains for gadgets.
