Meghan McCarty Carino

Jesus Alvarado and Daniel Shin produced this episode.

I'm Megan McCarty Carino, and that's Marketplace Tech.

AI is sucking up all the world's memory.

From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech.

I'm Megan McCurdy Carino.

No, I don't mean memory in a metaphysical sense, though that could also be argued.

I'm talking RAM and other kinds of memory hardware.

Much like graphics processing units, high bandwidth memory is essential for training and running AI.

It's paired with all those Nvidia chips that have been selling like hotcakes.

And only a small handful of companies in the world make it.

Now, the surge in demand from data centers has created a global shortage for everything else.

The PCs and smartphones and other consumer electronics that also use memory chips.

We spoke with Tom Minnelli, vice president of device and consumer research at IDC, International Data Corporation.

I asked him how long this shortage could last.

So we know that when it comes to high bandwidth memory, it's really just three companies that have the capacity to make that kind of memory.

But is the consumer electronics memory market so concentrated?

Is there any wiggle room there?

We'll be right back.

You're listening to Marketplace Tech.

I'm Megan McCarty Carino.