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AI Demands Gobble RAM, Hiking PC Prices into 2026
9 Jan
Summary
- Dell's XPS 14 now starts at $2,050, a significant price increase.
- AI supercomputers from NVIDIA and AMD are driving up RAM demand.
- AMD executive suggests PC builders may opt for component upgrades over new systems.
The consumer electronics industry is bracing for a challenging year, with experts predicting increased prices and reduced availability for PC components and systems. This outlook, highlighted at CES 2026, stems primarily from a dramatic surge in RAM prices over recent months. This escalation is directly linked to the immense demand from AI datacenters and the development of new AI supercomputers by major players like NVIDIA and AMD.
Dell's latest XPS 14 and XPS 16 laptops exemplify this trend, with the XPS 14 now starting at a steep $2,050, a significant jump from previous models. This price inflation is making entry-level systems more expensive than ever. Amidst this volatility, AMD's Corporate Vice President David McAfee suggested that PC builders, particularly gamers, might shift towards piecemeal component upgrades instead of full system replacements to manage costs, leveraging existing platforms like AM4 and AM5.
The insatiable appetite for computing power to fuel AI model development and inference is diverting global memory supplies. NVIDIA's Vera Rubin and AMD's Helios AI systems, boasting massive RAM capacities, underscore this demand. While AMD anticipates memory market prices to stabilize within the first three to six months of 2026, the immediate future points towards continued price increases for consumers, impacting everything from laptops to desktop components.
