OpenAI Controls 40% of Global RAM, Prices Surge

OpenAI and the Global RAM Shortage

OpenAI, under the leadership of Sam Altman, has played a major role in the current shortage of RAM. By reserving up to 40% of the global RAM production, the company has created significant tension in the market. This strategy, based on letters of intent, has led to a dramatic increase in DDR5 prices while limiting access to components for many industry players.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that these massive reservations did not require immediate payments, allowing OpenAI to lock in production lines without spending a dime. As a result, available stock at retailers has dwindled, and consumers now have to pay high prices for products that have not even left the factories.

OpenAI's Agreements with Memory Giants

In October 2025, OpenAI entered into preliminary agreements with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, two of the largest memory producers in the world. These agreements allow OpenAI to reserve 900,000 DRAM wafers each month, representing about 40% of global production. A wafer is a silicon plate cut into several hundred memory chips, meaning that nearly half of the world's RAM production is thus preempted.

This situation has been exacerbated by a lack of communication among the various players. Samsung and SK Hynix were not informed that they had signed for similar volumes, leading to confusion in the market. Moreover, these agreements are based on letters of intent, meaning that no firm orders have yet been placed, adding to the overall uncertainty.

Impact of Payment-Free Agreements on the Market

The RAM market has reacted excessively to these announcements, confusing OpenAI's intentions with actual orders. Although no memory sticks have yet been delivered to OpenAI's data centers, distributors anticipate a shortage and adjust their prices accordingly.

This anticipation has caused an immediate rise in contractual prices between manufacturers and assemblers, directly impacting consumers. For example, a 32 GB DDR5-6000 memory kit that cost €139 is now sold for over €340 at specialized retailers like LDLC. This price surge illustrates the extent of the current crisis.

Impact on Consumer Hardware

Memory manufacturers, such as Micron, have begun to prioritize servers over regular users. The Crucial brand, for instance, has been sidelined to focus on producing components for cloud giants, utilizing ultra-fast and expensive memory technologies like HBM.

According to TrendForce, by 2026, data centers are expected to absorb 70% of chip production, leaving little resources for personal computer manufacturers. This concentration of resources has caused the share of memory costs in an HP PC to rise from 15% to 35%, making it difficult to build balanced configurations for modest budgets.

Consequences for Consoles and Entry-Level PCs

The RAM shortage is also affecting popular products such as Valve's Steam Deck, which is now out of stock due to component scarcity. Gartner analysts predict a decline in PC shipments for 2026, with a risk of machines priced under €450 disappearing from shelves.

Manufacturers can no longer maintain low prices with such expensive components. For example, Framework has already raised its prices by 50% on its optional memory modules, meaning consumers now have to pay the price of a complete computer to achieve yesterday's performance.

TurboQuant: A Potential Solution

Google recently proposed a technical solution to mitigate this hardware crisis. The company introduced TurboQuant, an innovative compression method for language models that reduces RAM requirements by six times without affecting computational performance.

This announcement had an immediate impact on the market, causing memory manufacturers' stocks to drop. Investors fear that this software optimization may reduce RAM needs, rendering OpenAI's reservations unnecessary. Although DDR5 prices fell by 7% in March following this news, they remain four times higher than before the crisis began.