OpenAI's Stargate Eats 40% of Global RAM — Your Next PC Will Cost 4x More

Aina
Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:20:49 +0000

OpenAI’s Stargate Eats 40% of Global RAM — Your Next PC Will Cost 4x More

The “RAMpocalypse” isn’t a meme anymore. It’s a structural shift that’s killing the $500 PC forever.

A 32GB DDR5 kit went from $85 to $400 in under a year. NAND wafer prices are up 246%. All 2026 NAND production is already sold out. Data centers will consume 70% of all memory chips made this year — leaving PCs, phones, consoles, and cars to fight over scraps.

A detailed blog post from käsebrot.com lays out the numbers behind what’s being called the “RAMpocalypse” — the structural collapse of affordable consumer hardware driven by AI data center demand, manufacturer exits, and incoming tariffs. The Hacker News crowd (300+ comments) mostly agrees on the diagnosis but debates whether this is permanent or cyclical.

🧩 Dumb Mode Dictionary (click for more details) 📊 The Price Carnage — By the Numbers (click for more details) 🔍 Why This Is Happening — The Demand Vacuum (click for more details) 💀 Micron Exits — The Duopoly Arrives (click for more details) 💰 GPUs and Everything Else — The Cascade (click for more details) ⚡ Tariffs — The Accelerant (click for more details) 🗣️ What the HN Crowd Is Saying (click for more details) 📈 The Counter-Argument (Because I Always Give You One) (click for more details)

Cool. So RAM costs a kidney now. Now What the Hell Do We Do? (ง •̀_•́)ง

🛠️ Buy and Flip Used Enterprise RAM (click for more details) 💾 SSD Arbitrage Before Inventory Dries Up (click for more details) 🔧 Start a RAM Upgrade & Repair Service (click for more details) 📊 Build a Hardware Price Tracker (click for more details) 🧠 Consult on Enterprise Memory Procurement (click for more details) 🛠️ Follow-Up Actions (click for more details)

Quick Hits

Want to… | Do this
Protect your current hardware | Max out RAM and storage NOW before prices climb another 70% in Q2
Profit from the shortage | Buy and flip enterprise RAM pulls or hold SSD inventory for arbitrage
Start a service | RAM upgrade shops and procurement consulting are wide open
Build something | Regional hardware price tracker with alerts — the market needs one
Stay informed | TrendForce + Tom’s Hardware + DigiTimes = your early warning system

Your DDR5 kit costs more than your first car. Welcome to the age of memory as a luxury good.

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