An ‘AI tax’ is driving up the worth of gaming computer systems and different electronics

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When Stephen Jeffers began searching for the elements to construct a brand new gaming pc on the finish of final yr, the price of digital storage gave him sticker shock.

“I had most of the parts except for RAM because I was like, ‘I could get that anywhere,’” mentioned Mr. Jeffers, who has beforehand constructed two gaming computer systems, which require extra reminiscence than regular computer systems. Memory has traditionally been low price and straightforward to supply. But the worth was climbing quick. “Once it doubled I hit the panic button and went to the secondary market,” he mentioned.

He paid $200 for 2 16-gigabyte sticks of RAM on the secondary market and $150 for a two-terabyte solid-state drive that he “swooped in” and obtained on sale round Christmas.

Just six months later, the identical elements at the moment are promoting for about $600 every, he mentioned. Mr. Jeffers, who lives in St. John’s and works in mission administration, joked that his pc storage has turn into “one of my best-performing assets.”

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Consumer electronics from cellphones to gaming units are quickly turning into dearer as large demand from the info centres that energy synthetic intelligence drives up the price of reminiscence.

The worth of random entry reminiscence, or RAM, and strong state drive storage – two sorts of reminiscence that retailer information on cellphones, laptop computer and desktop computer systems, and gaming techniques – has quadrupled since late 2025. A late June report from Jefferies Equity Research mentioned RAM costs will proceed to extend between 40 and 50 per cent within the third quarter of this yr, and one other 30 to 40 per cent within the fourth quarter.

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Kevin Jia, co-founder and chief govt officer of Quoted Tech, a Canadian PC builder, referred to as the worth hikes an “AI tax” on customers shopping for a brand new machine or trying to construct their very own. Mr. Jia’s firm makes computer systems for high-end and entry-level gaming in addition to skilled workstations.

AI information centres use sorts of reminiscence which might be much more highly effective than what goes right into a desktop pc or a recreation console. But the massive three reminiscence chip makers – Micron Technology, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics – have been allocating extra of their capability towards these enterprise shoppers, mentioned Willy Shih, a professor on the Harvard Business School. That’s leaving little room for conventional RAM and flash reminiscence manufacturing for shopper units.

Micron, which reported document quarterly income of US$41.46-billion on the finish of June, closed its shopper model solely in December final yr.

Technology makers at the moment are passing the upper prices onto customers. Apple raised its costs throughout the board in late June: a price range Neo laptop computer now retails for US$699, up from US$599; a MacBook Air goes for US$1,299, up from US$1,099; and an iPad Air is US$749, up from US$599.

“The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge,” Apple mentioned in an announcement, including that the speedy enlargement of AI information centres had created an “extraordinary” surge within the demand for reminiscence and storage. “We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”

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Dell, Microsoft, Motorola, Sony, Nintendo and good ring-maker Oura have additionally hiked costs on their merchandise.

“As a company that builds computers, we have to explain to people what’s happening all the time,” mentioned Mr. Jia. Quoted Tech has additionally needed to increase costs. “We want computing to be as affordable as possible. Unfortunately, we have to cover the costs of our supply. We can’t eat $400 to $500 of memory. No company can.”

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Mr. Shih mentioned the worth spike is “highly unusual” relative to the previous 50 years of electronics improvement. “We have been on this trend of every year, you get more performance and more memory for the same price,” he mentioned. “What’s really quite extraordinary is seeing retail prices like this increase by a factor of four.”

Analysts at Counterpoint Research, a worldwide agency, estimated the worth hikes will depress smartphone shipments by 2.1 per cent in 2026, and IDC tech intelligence analysts forecasted an 11.3-per-cent decline within the private pc market.

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Memory prices have additionally hit Canadians who construct or improve their very own computer systems. For individuals trying to run highly effective video video games, constructing a pc from scratch with the elements of their selecting has traditionally been inexpensive and higher than shopping for a pre-built gaming pc.

“It’s a price to performance thing,” mentioned Vamsi Kolluru, 33, an avid gamer who lives in Toronto and works in science. “I’ve had pre-built computers before and they’re always lacking; they don’t have the best specs and it’s cheaper to build it yourself.”

Mr. Kolluru, who has constructed two computer systems, estimates up to now he’s saved a pair hundred {dollars} every time relative to the worth of a pre-built gaming rig.

But not any extra. Mr. Kolluru was planning to improve his PC this yr to maintain up with the present era of video games. The eye-popping price of RAM and SSD has brought on him to rethink. When he final upgraded in 2022 the price of 32 gigabytes of RAM was $150; now it’s retailing for about $370. If he upgraded to the latest sort of RAM, he mentioned he’d be taking a look at a $500 spend.

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Chip makers want to add extra capability, however Mr. Shih mentioned that new factories take about two years to return to market.

In addition to his pc, Mr. Jeffers has been constructing his personal space for storing for private pictures, movies and information, quite than paying firms comparable to Google or Microsoft month-to-month for cloud storage. He’s confronted larger costs for the reminiscence for this storage mission, too, and mentioned he’s rising involved that management is “slipping away” from customers.

Mr. Jeffers, a lifelong bodily collector who nonetheless has video video games from his childhood tucked away in his basement, mentioned that larger costs may contribute to what’s been thus far a gradual transition towards customers not actually proudly owning their bodily units, and having to lease storage or electronics themselves from tech firms.

“We’re losing control of the very things we’re spending money on,” he mentioned. “It’s hard to visualize when you see prices going up, but at the end of the day the price of admission for asset ownership is increasing as these things get consolidated, and it is concerning.”