RAM Shortage to Impact Gamers Significantly Until 2028

RAM shortage has hit the entire PC gaming community, and anyone looking to build a new PC in 2026 won’t have much luck. Based on reports from Tom’s Hardware, AI data centers are expected to consume 70% of the memory chips produced in 2026. Micron has already exited the consumer memory market and shifted its entire focus to the server segment. From what we can see, Samsung and SK Hynix might soon take the same approach. If you're a gamer looking to build or upgrade your setup, do it now, or you might regret it later. Here’s why your next build just got more expensive, and why you need to act fast. Why AI is causing RAM shortage Unlike the previous price boom, which affected GPU pricing, crypto miners aren’t the villain this time. Instead, data centers have an insatiable demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). You might be wondering: if a gaming PC uses DDR (Double Data Rate) memory, why is rising HBM demand affecting DDR prices? The reason is that both HBM and DDR originate from the same memory silicon. To put it into perspective, a cake and a loaf of bread are initially made by mixing flour and water, then baked in an oven, and finally dressed with cream and other elements. Think of a bakery that only has one oven. Data centers are paying 10x more for premium wedding cakes (HBM), so the bakery has stopped making plain loaves of bread (DDR4/5) to free up oven space. The ingredients are the same, but the priority has shifted In the same way, memory manufacturers are allocating more memory silicon to HBM because it offers significantly higher margins. This reduces the amount of silicon available for DDR memory, leading to tighter supply and, as basic economics dictates, higher prices. The result: Simply put, when a mainstream user gets a quote on memory prices for their upcoming build, they are unpleasantly surprised to see that the RAM kit price is now close to, or has even surpassed, a regular mid-range GPU’s budget. Read more: Windows 11 shutdown bug: Microsoft confirms KB5073455 issue Why 16 GB RAM is outdated in 2026 If you are someone who uses your Windows PC for earning bread and butter, then chances are you might have noticed how 16GB RAM keeps struggling in day-to-day tasks, such as having browser tabs open, Discord running in the background, photo or video editing software running in the background, slowly making the system sluggish. And when you do not close your background apps and start a game, the PC’s performance, regardless of how old or new it is, just falls apart. There are multiple reasons behind this; it’s not that apps aren’t well-optimized enough. Between Windows 11’s aggressive telemetry, Discord, and a few Chrome tabs, a 16GB system often idles with nearly 50% memory usage before you even launch a game. Furthermore, applications are regularly updated with modern features, because if someone stops updating, someone else will provide new features and turn heads. This is a digital age after all, and one cannot escape updates. So, whether you possess a single 16GB stick or dual, regardless of memory channel, you will lag. Read more: After RAM and SSDs, power supplies and CPU coolers are getting pricier: Should you buy now? 32GB is the new standard 32GB is the new standard because the Windows workload discussed earlier, such as background applications, multitasking, and modern software usage, has been tested, and the memory upgrade performs quite well in content-heavy use cases. With DDR5 32GB kits still available under the $500 mark, at least budget ones with 6000 MHz C38 rating, if you have saved long enough, do consider getting it, because from what SK hynix has stated in its 2026 market outlook, global demand for AI-focused memory will grow rapidly from 2025 to 2028, and this memory supercycle will keep memory at the center of the market for years. In conclusion, buy whatever you can afford right now for yourself and your needs. Even though Samsung and SK Hynix haven’t publicly disclosed that they are quitting the consumer memory market, it’s safe to say that, as businesses, they will likely shift production to areas where they can make more profit. There is one thing for sure: if memory manufacturers build new fabs to increase production, it will take years to complete the entire setup. What they are doing instead is prioritizing HBM manufacturing to keep up with the data center demands. Read more: Is 8GB RAM good enough in 2026?