A global race for AI supremacy may now hit consumers squarely in the wallet, with experts warning that laptops, consoles and even everyday business tech could rise in price by £300 or more after OpenAI tied up a vast share of the world’s memory chip supply.
Over the summer, a 32GB memory kit retailing at around £100 jumped to more than £400, after OpenAI quietly secured agreements giving it priority access to 40% of global high-performance memory production as part of its Stargate supercomputing project.
In October, OpenAI confirmed deals with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to obtain roughly 900,000 memory chips per month — a scale so large that chipmakers and PC manufacturers had been bracing for a crunch. Some stockpiled inventory early. Those who didn’t are now facing explosive price rises.
Framework, the highly regarded modular laptop maker, pulled its standalone memory products entirely, citing fears of “scalpers” and warning that its component pricing will soon need to increase.
Smartphone makers are caught in the same squeeze: flagship Android devices now routinely carry 12GB to 16GB of RAM. Those costs, manufacturers say, will either be passed directly to shoppers or further erode margins already under pressure.
Colette Mason, author and AI consultant at Clever Clogs AI, said the public had been sold a fantasy that AI would make technology cheaper and more accessible.
“We’ve been told for years that AI will democratise everything. But then OpenAI hoovers up 40% of global memory supply and your laptop costs £300 more. That’s not democratisation.”
She warned that the people hit hardest would be students, small business owners and pensioners – those who rely on affordable, functional computers to participate in work, education and daily life.
“Meanwhile, OpenAI gets priority access whilst everyone else fights over scraps at triple the price,” she said. “This is automation’s ugly cousin: infrastructure imperialism.”
Rohit Parmar-Mistry, founder of Pattrn Data in Burton-on-Trent, said UK businesses will absorb the fallout long before they see any benefit from bleeding-edge AI.
“A 300% hike in memory costs isn’t just a headache for gamers. It’s a direct hit to overheads for every small business trying to upgrade their fleet.”
He noted that manufacturers are reluctant to ramp up production, anxious about overshooting demand, which means scarcity, and high prices, could persist.
“If the hardware needed to run a business becomes a luxury item, then the AI running on it had better deliver serious value. Right now, we’re paying premium prices for potential, not performance.”
Patricia McGirr, founder of Repossession Rescue Network, said the public was being priced out of basic digital participation.
“A basic memory upgrade now costs more than a month’s rent for some households. One project locked down a massive share of global supply and the rest of us are left scrambling.”
She criticised the absence of regulatory oversight, arguing that no thought had been given to the social consequences of sudden hardware inflation.
Kate Underwood, founder of Kate Underwood HR & Training, said small employers were already struggling with outdated laptops and growing complaints from staff.
“It makes the business owner look tight when you can’t upgrade equipment, but now you’d need to sell a kidney to refresh your IT. Seems we now have an AI tax on top of everything else Rachel from Accounts handed out in the Budget last week.”
Can consumers fight back? Possibly, but only if they stop buying new tech
Mitali Deypurkaystha, human-first AI strategist at Impact Icon AI, said that while chipmakers have tightened supply, consumers do still have leverage.
“Most of us don’t need the latest memory to benefit from AI, it runs in the cloud. If we refuse inflated prices and buy older or second-hand components, we send a clear signal by hurting profit margins. We’re not as powerless as they think.”
Asked about concerns raised by UK business owners, OpenAI referred to earlier comments from CEO Sam Altman, who framed the Korean manufacturing deal as essential to global AI progress:
“We’re excited to work with Samsung, SK Hynix and the Korean government through our Stargate initiative to support Korea’s AI ambitions.”
For millions of consumers and small businesses now facing hardware costs three times higher than a few months ago, the question is not whether AI will transform the future, but who will be left able to afford the devices needed to access it.
