AI demand will gobble 20% of global DRAM wafers next year—HBM and GDDR7 prices spiking, devs brace yourselves.
AI isn’t just hype—it’s a hardware hog. Reports show AI consuming 20% of global DRAM wafer capacity in 2026, with HBM (high-bandwidth memory) and GDDR7 leading the charge for training massive models.[5]
If you’re running LLMs locally or scaling inference, this squeezes supply. Memory bandwidth is the new bottleneck; expect HBM shortages driving up costs for NVIDIA GPUs and beyond. Devs building AI workloads? Your cloud bills or rig upgrades just got 20-30% steeper as fabs prioritize AI silicon.[5]
I think this cements AI as the compute kingpin—forget crypto, this is the real demand driver. Practical move: Optimize models for lower memory (quantization, anyone?) or eye alternatives like GDDR7-equipped cards. How are you future-proofing your AI hardware stack for 2026?
Source: TrendForce