The AI-pocalypse-fueled RAM shortage is far from over, and it's about to get even worse. According to Valve's Steam Machine engineers, the shortages are 'getting worse' and retail stock supplies are 'lagging' by three to six months. This means that prices will likely shoot up further by the start of 2027, as two of Valve's engineers, Yazan Aldehayyat and Pierre-Loup Griffais, revealed during an interview with Bloomberg.
'We knew there was going to be an issue with sourcing,' stated Aldehayyat. 'But the extent was beyond anything we actually expected.'
'Honestly, it’s still getting worse,' he continued. 'Just in case people are not aware. What people are seeing on retail shelves right now, from our observations, is lagging what we’re seeing from a bulk supply by at least three to six months.'
'We’re basically building everything we can get our hands on,' added Griffais. 'We’re limited by memory capacity, for sure.'
This situation is not new. Last month, Griffais stated during an interview with Gamers Nexus that sourcing the DRAM required to produce the Steam Machine had been an uphill battle because Valve was unable to secure contracts with any manufacturers. 'Look, there’s no contracts,' Griffais noted in June. 'There’s nothing. Like, those guys...they are...they give us a price every month or something and they say 'You can buy that many' and it’s yes or no. And if we say no, then they never talk to us again.'
Despite the dire situation, there is still a glimmer of hope. A class-action lawsuit against the three largest RAM and chip manufacturers, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology, accuses them of colluding to artificially raise the prices of RAM. If this lawsuit bears fruit, it could potentially alleviate the shortage. However, if it doesn't, we might just be screwed. Our only other hope is that someone manages to figure out time travel, so they can convince Sam Altman that this 'ChatGPT' thing sounds like a dumb idea, and that he should stick to making that geosocial networking app that he was working on instead. Either that or we can just teleport to 2010, so we can buy a bunch of cheap RAM (and maybe some Pokémon cards while we’re at it).
In my opinion, this situation highlights the fragility of our reliance on technology and the potential consequences of a single point of failure in the supply chain. It also underscores the importance of innovation and diversification in the tech industry. If we don't address these issues, we risk being stuck in a world where we can't afford the technology we need to function.
