AI’s memory chip shortage is quietly taxing the entire economy

Your next laptop, smartphone, or even refrigerator is going to cost more — and you can thank AI for that. The AI boom has triggered what insiders are calling “RAMageddon”: a gold rush on high-bandwidth memory chips that is squeezing out nearly every other buyer in the global market, driving up prices across consumer electronics and straining industries from automotive to healthcare. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook has warned about the pressure AI infrastructure costs are placing on hardware margins.