Who Will Pay for AI Absurdity? You.

Companies are so all-in for AI that there is a chip shortage and thus the prices for personal computers are skyrocketing.

I built a PC for a colleague in January of 2025. At the time, the cost for the three main components — the motherboard, the processor, and the DDR5 memory — was about $800. A few weeks ago, I had to buy the same components, more or less, for another co-worker’s PC build. The bill: $1,200.

And it’s all thanks to AI.

Whether you use AI or not, it’s probably going to impact your life this year — and I’m not just talking about search results or slop. The land war to build AI data centers is driving up the price of the computers and other devices you may try to buy this year, and the best values are likely to be the first casualties.

For PC components and laptops, the price changes are already here. For phones and other smart devices, the increases are almost certainly coming.

Last fall, the price of desktop RAM, the memory inside home PCs, began to skyrocket, and though the rate of increase has slowed, we’re still seeing prices that are 300% higher than they were last summer. Similarly, prices for solid-state drives have risen sharply since December 2025, in some cases doubling or more.

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The short version: The explosive investment in AI data centers and hardware in recent times has shifted the economics for the components that make up the devices you use, and individual consumers are being forced to bear the effects.

AI companies are making or buying hardware using components that take the same resources necessary to make the devices you use — and they’re paying a lot more for them. Manufacturers are devoting more resources to AI-oriented components over consumer-level hardware. PC-component retailers are ramping up prices amidst unprecedented demand. All of this is driving up costs for the companies making the things you want to buy, and those costs are being passed on to you. And it’s going to get worse.

But hey, at least doing so is sucking up water from already vulnerable aquifers and completely destroying all progress made in the transition to clean energy. Totally worth it so people don’t have to write emails and students can cheat on papers.