AI data centers are buying up a lot of the world’s supply of computing memory, causing a global shortage. That’s having an effect on digital archiving efforts.
As tech companies rush to build data centers to power their AI models, they’re eating up power, money, and memory. Specifically, memory chips.
Research firm IDC says demand from data centers has driven up prices for these chips and that we are dealing with an unprecedented memory chip shortage. That has knock-on effects for other devices that need these chips, including smartphones, PCs, and external hard drives.
On its most recent earnings call, Western Digital said it’s pretty much sold out of hard drives already for the year.
The shortage is causing problems for anyone wants to preserve data, including those who do it for a living.
Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Linda Tadic, a digital archivist who leads Digital Bedrock, about how the memory shortage is affecting her work right now.
Global Memory Shortage Crisis: Market Analysis and the Potential Impact on the Smartphone and PC Markets in 2026 – from IDC
