AI Data Centres Spark Fears on Memory Storage Devices

Makers of memory storage devices and tech analysts are warning that the boom in AI data centres will create shortages of memory devices and that prices are climbing as the market tightens.

“Nearly every analyst firm and memory maker is now warning of looming NAND and DRAM shortages that will send SSD [Solid State Drive devices] and memory prices skyrocketing over the coming months and years, with some even predicting a shortage that will last a decade,” a report by Tom’s Hardware said.

“The shortages are becoming impossible to ignore, and warnings from the industry are growing dire, as the voracious appetite of AI data centres begins to consume the lion’s share of the world’s memory and flash production capacity.”

The latest memory cycle was triggered by AI, according to writer Luke James, who said “large language models require vast amounts of memory and storage and each GPU node in a training cluster can consumer hundreds of gigabytes of DRAM [Dynamic Random Access Memory cell devices] and multiple terabytes of flash storage.”

OpenAI’s ‘Stargate’ project would use a vast number of Samsung and SK Hynix chips a month, he said, noting that the CEO of Phison Electronics, Taiwan’s largest NAND controller company, reportedly warned that the situation could tighten supply for a decade. There was also the threat of geopolitical rivalry worsening the problem, which has already hit the supply of magnets made from a rare earth [which Beijing has begun to ration].