Judging by media coverage, those paying the highest price so far are recent graduates, whose job search has become much more difficult with the rise of OpenAI. And indeed, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, unemployment among young people aged 20 to 24 with a bachelor’s degree or higher reached 9.5% in September, the highest figure outside of the pandemic years since 2014.
Recently, however, another consequence has started to draw journalists’ attention: electronics.
Companies from the S&P 500 index, such as Google, are spending enormous amounts on AI infrastructure, creating shortages of key components, including DRAM, LPDDR memory, SSDs, and GPUs. According to CNBC, suppliers such as TSMC, Intel, and Samsung are prioritizing major AI customers, making it more challenging for smartphone, laptop, and consumer electronics manufacturers to secure the parts they need.
For instance, Dell, HP, Xiaomi, and Lenovo have already warned that this memory shortage will increase production costs for nearly all electronic products, from smartphones to medical devices and cars. Some companies, such as Lenovo, have even begun stockpiling memory chips in anticipation of rising prices.
At the consumer level, it has already reached the point where major U.S. retailers, such as Micro Center and Central Computers, are advising customers to double-check prices before making a purchase.
Looking ahead, consulting firm Counterpoint Research predicts that prices for both advanced and older types of memory could rise by around 30% by the end of the year, with another possible 20% jump in early 2026. Since memory and storage can make up 20–30% of a device’s production cost, this could mean higher prices for consumers too…
Who’s benefiting from all this?
Primarily, chipmakers such as Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix. Since the start of the year, their shares have surged 144%, 97%, and 255%, respectively.
In terms of actual income, Micron’s fiscal 2025 revenue jumped nearly 50% to a record $37.4 billion, with margins rising to 41%, primarily driven by high-performance data-center products like HBM, server DRAM, and SSDs fueled by the AI boom. Samsung Electronics reported Q3 revenue growth of 15.4% to 86.1 trillion KRW, with its Device Solutions division leading the way due to strong sales of HBM3E and server-grade SSDs. SK Hynix also posted major gains in Q3, with revenue of 24.45 trillion KRW, powered by high demand for DRAM, NAND, HBM3E, DDR5, and AI server eSSDs
