Consumers face higher prices on everyday electronics as the AI boom reverses decades of declining costs. The surge in demand for memory chips, particularly dynamic random-access memory (DRam), has driven up costs across smartphones, PCs, and gaming consoles. Major manufacturers like Apple have already raised prices despite potential sales losses. "Literally everything" in consumer electronics is affected, said MS Hwang, research director at Counterpoint. Hyperscalers' DRam demand has created severe shortages, with prices increasing fivefold over the past year. Equity investors poured billions into chip designers like San Disk and SK Hynix, whose shares rose over 1,000 percent in a year. Retailers are raising prices by up to 20 percent, according to International Data Corporation. Chipmakers are prioritizing high-bandwidth memory for AI over lower-end consumer chips. Apple raised laptop and tablet prices by up to $300 in June, forecasting weaker sales growth. Gaming console makers like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have increased prices by as much as $150. Nintendo reported unexpected costs of ¥100 billion in May, citing rising component costs, particularly for memory.

The trend reversing decades of cheaper, more powerful electronics is driven by Moore's Law no longer offsetting component shortages. Since the 1970s, semiconductor advances made devices more powerful at lower costs. Now, AI-driven demand is reshaping the market.

Users on Reddit's PC and gaming forums have dubbed the memory chip crunch "RAMageddon" and the "RAMpocalypse".

Valve has slowed production of its Steam gaming hardware amid the ongoing shortages.