Your next Roku just got 60% more expensive because data centers are hoarding the same memory chips used in streaming sticks. The AI boom finally hit your living room. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, as I’m guessing that there are very different chips in the infrastructure powering an AI server cluster and that tiny but super-convenient device attached to your TV.
That being said, “RAMageddon” as it’s being called, IS affecting consumer tech. Apple has already announced that many of its core devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac) will see price increases in the coming year due to the RAM supply shortage. And I don’t think this will be the end of it for a while. Watch for other hardware suppliers to start passing these new costs on to device companies, who will, in turn, pass them on to buyers.
I sincerely hope that smaller hardware companies don’t use this as an excuse to simply tack on additional costs to improve their margins. It’s justified if their build cost is going up. But budgets are tight right now from a consumer standpoint, so I wonder if the increased Roku device costs will just cause buyers to look for alternative vendors or just hold off on purchasing altogether.