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RAM now represents 35 percent of bill of materials for HP PCs

RAM now represents 35 percent of bill of materials for HP PCs

jnord

Comments (75)

  • travisgriggs
    I had my formative years in programming when memory usage was something you still worried about as a programmer. And then memory expanded so much that all kinds of “optimal” patterns for programming just become nearly irrelevant. Will we start to actually consider this in software solutions again as a result?
  • asadm
    i am working on my side-product [1] where i was exploring a Rockchip which required external memory (just 1G) which went from $3 to $32 and completely destroyed economics for me. I settled with one with embedded memory and optimizing my code instead :)1. https://x.com/_asadmemon/status/1989417143398797424
  • Aerroon
    I think Europe should invest into manufacturing RAM. RAM isn't going anywhere, all of modern compute uses it. This would be an opportunity to create domestic supply of it.
  • blackoil
    Maybe this RAMmageddon will trigger a wave of optimized softwares that don't need GBs of memory for anything and everything.
  • KumaBear
    Only a matter of time before you hear about missing shipping trucks being stolen. China is opening up more production, but I don’t see any relief coming soon.
  • haxtormoogle
    Isn't there a full wafer ai chip mainframe for data centers now that blows anything needing ram out of the water? I don't understand the ram shortage exists companies have surpassed nvidia.
  • locusofself
    Jeez. I'm glad I "splurged" for the 24gb RAM in my macbook air. Should last me a few more years..
  • SolubleSnake
    This is a fairly odd statement given that BOMs are managed in manufacturing systems and for accounting and engineering purposes in multiple different ways. This can be for anything to do with sales data for a client or for guys on the factory floor or for the accountants. There are sales BOMs, manufacturing BOMs procurement BOMs and nested BOMs etc all for different parts of the business process...you would have BOMs within the organisation that were probably nearly 70% etc or those that were 0%!
  • throwaway2037
    Will this RAM shortage also affect the price of mobile phones?
  • agentifysh
    Is there any hope for RAM to stabilize in prices again?
  • tw04
    I think China is about to step in and take every last bit of non-ai market share, and then when the bubble bursts companies like micron and samsung are going to be begging governments for a bail out.
  • SanjayMehta
    Recently order a number of machines with 32Gb of RAM. Wanted 64, was told prices couldn't be guaranteed nor could delivery dates. Under the pressure of urgency settled for whatever was available that day.
  • kazinator
    "Bill of materials" (BOM) is not a monetary invoice, only an itemization of constituent parts. :)
  • rubyn00bie
    I think we’re at the peak, or close to it for these memory shenanigans. OpenAI who is largely responsible for the shortage, just doesn’t have the capital to pay for it. It’s only a matter of time before chickens come home to roost and the bill is due. OpenAI is promising hundreds of billions in capex but has no where near that cash on hand, and its cash flow is abysmal considering the spend.Unless there is a true breakthrough, beyond AGI into super intelligence on existing, or near term, hardware— I just don’t see how “trust me bro,” can keep its spending party going. Competition is incredibly stiff, and it’s pretty likely we’re at the point of diminishing returns without an absolute breakthrough.The end result is going to be RAM prices tanking in 18-24 months. The only upside will be for consumers who will likely gain the ability to run much larger open source models locally.
  • re-thc
    What!? I always thought we could just download more RAM!
  • shablulman
    [dead]
  • Fr0styMatt88
    I asked ChatGPT directly how it was fair that OpenAI bought 40% of the world’s RAM supply.It denied this saying that the figures quoted were estimates only, that such massive RAM contracts would be easily obtainable public knowledge and that primarily the recent price increases were mostly cyclical in nature.Any truth to this?Edit to add: I am actually curious; I was under the impression that this 40% story going around was true and confirmed, rather than just hyperbole or speculation.