The price of memory is climbing, and it’s not just a problem for people building a new PC. RAM for laptops, desktops, phones, and tablets is getting more expensive as AI data centers absorb an increasing share of global supply. To better understand what’s happening behind the scenes, I called up Nirav Patel, CEO of PC maker Framework, to talk through how this shortage developed and what it means for consumers over the next several months.
Check out the interview in my latest video!
Patel described the current situation as a classic supply-and-demand imbalance, but on a scale the consumer market hasn’t seen before. Only a handful of companies—Micron, SK hynix, and Samsung—manufacture most of the world’s DRAM, and expanding capacity requires massive capital investment.
“What we’re seeing right now is just a massive excess of demand relative to the supply available,” Patel said.
With AI servers commanding higher margins, manufacturers are prioritizing those customers, leaving consumer products with tighter allocations. That imbalance has been building quietly for years, but it became much more visible when Micron announced it was shutting down its Crucial consumer memory brand last month. For PC builders, Crucial had long been a reliable option. Patel said the decision made sense given current conditions.
“When memory is in allocation, it doesn’t make sense to compete with your own customers,” he explained, noting that Micron supplies chips not only to large OEMs like Dell and HP, but also to other consumer memory brands.
One reason Framework has been able to navigate repeated supply disruptions—from pandemic shortages to GPU crunches and now memory—is its modular design philosophy. Patel credited flexibility as a survival tool.
“We built the product to be modular, and that gives us a lot of flexibility to navigate these kinds of environments,” he said.
Because many Framework systems are sold as DIY editions, customers can source their own memory and storage when shortages hit, sharing some of the burden rather than leaving the company entirely exposed.
The uncertainty isn’t limited to pricing. Patel described a market filled with overlapping orders, canceled allocations, and even hoarding.
“It is actually very unclear to anyone what the true ground truth is in the market when it comes to the supply and the demand,” he said.
Companies are placing duplicate orders with multiple suppliers, unsure which ones will be fulfilled. That behavior, he noted, can make shortages appear worse than they ultimately are, at least until reality catches up.
Geopolitics are also playing a role. Chinese memory maker CXMT has historically been avoided by many U.S. companies due to sanctions and long-term sourcing concerns, but Patel said that’s starting to change. “If you’re not sure where you’re going to be able to get your memory in two months, you better go and qualify every possible source,” he said, adding that some major OEMs are now testing and approving parts they previously wouldn’t have considered.
For consumers, the immediate concern is quality as prices rise and supply tightens. Patel’s advice was straightforward: stick with established brands. He doesn’t expect major manufacturers to compromise their reputations to chase short-term gains.
“Those brands are not going to torch all of their credibility in this short window of time,” he said, though he acknowledged that lesser-known vendors may try to take advantage of the situation.
While memory is the biggest constraint right now, Patel doesn’t believe every component will remain scarce long term. If memory remains the bottleneck, other parts like GPUs and storage should eventually stabilize because they can’t be deployed without sufficient RAM. In the near term, however, he expects continued volatility as the market works through excess orders and misaligned expectations.
Looking further ahead, Patel pushed back on the idea that soldered or unified memory is a solution to shortages. Even systems that place memory on the same package as the processor often rely on separately sourced components. For Framework, modular memory remains central to its roadmap, especially during periods like this. “Buy what you can afford today,” he said, “and buy solutions that let you upgrade in the future.”
Patel emphasized uncertainty as the defining market feature of the moment. AI demand has reshaped how memory is allocated, and the consumer market is now competing in a space it no longer dominates.
Curious about Framework? Check out my Framework videos here and my other interviews here!