Put your minds at ease, the memory crisis will last at least 10 years according to ADATA

The global market must prepare for a a long period of scarcity and rising prices for hardware.

The recent statements by Chen Li-bai, president of ADATA, paint a very clear picture of the current situation and of what lies ahead: the shortage of DRAM modules is not a passing phenomenon, but a structural condition that will persist for at least a decade.

This crisis is directly linked to the unprecedented demand coming from data centers and companies involved in AI development, sectors that are literally absorbing a large part of global production capacity to the detriment of the consumer market.

ADATA is dire: the memory crisis will last at least 10 years

While some analysts are starting to speculate about the bursting of a potential speculative bubble tied to artificial intelligence, ADATA’s leadership firmly rejects this view.

According to Chen, it is decidedly premature to talk about a slowdown. His estimates indicate that a debate about a hypothetical slowdown of the sector will only make sense after 2030, pushing back the timelines of a possible physiological decline to 2040 or even to 2050.

The big players in tech, the president warns, have gravely underestimated the real infrastructural needs of this new wave of intensive computing.

The hardware race isn’t just about the silicon of processors, but translates into a joint and massive demand for electricity, storage capacity, and ultra-high-performance memory.

L’impatto sui consumatori e sulla filiera

This dynamic is having severe repercussions for end users, who are already experiencing notable price increases when buying tech products.

Companies have enormous capital and are drawing the attention of major manufacturers, offering extremely lucrative contracts and pushing factories to prioritize the production of server memory rather than the traditional DRAM intended for home computers.

Colossi such as Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have unveiled imposing multi-year expansion plans to expand their foundries. However, the new plants will not be up and running until 2028.

Even on that date, additional production could prove insufficient to meet the requests of a growing number of companies in desperate search of components that are already almost unobtainable today.

The extension of this crisis for another ten years is directly reflected in ADATA’s commercial maneuvers, which positions it firmly among the world’s major suppliers.

The company has already anticipated market projections far from reassuring for the quarters to come: a 30% price increase is expected for DRAM modules and a drastic 40% increase for NAND memories by the third quarter of 2026.