Highlights
- Samsung warns that explosive AI demand is creating a memory chip bottleneck, diverting production away from gaming hardware.
- Component costs are surging, with DDR5 RAM prices tripling.
- To dodge imminent price hikes on consoles and TVs, experts advise buying current hardware or refurbished units immediately.
If you’ve been saving up for a hardware upgrade or waiting for the next big price drop to grab a console, you might want to rethink your strategy. In a stark update emerging from CES 2026, Samsung Electronics has issued a critical warning that threatens to end the era of affordable high-end gaming. The tech giant, which supplies essential components for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo, has cautioned that a massive bottleneck in memory chip production is driving component costs through the roof. As the industry aggressively pivots toward Artificial Intelligence, it is eating up supply and leaving gamers with the bill.
The financial reality is already here, and frankly, the numbers are alarming for anyone who cares about their setup. Aigazine reports confirm that prices for memory modules have already jumped drastically, rising from $255 in the third quarter of 2025 to $450 by the end of last year. If that wasn’t bad enough, analysts are predicting these costs could hit a staggering $700 by March 2026.
On a smaller scale, the contract prices for DDR5 RAM, the standard memory sticking into your gaming rig, have surged from just $7 to $19.50 per unit. It turns out that the AI revolution isn't just generating weird art; it's actively making your hobby more expensive. The heart of this crisis is the skyrocketing demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI data centers. This insatiable hunger for power, highlighted by stories of OpenAI’s GPUs melting during the Ghibli AI art trend in 2025, has forced manufacturers to divert production lines away from consumer gaming parts.
Samsung’s Co-CEO TM Roh explained during CES 2026 that the company is facing unprecedented supply issues as capacity is reallocated to meet this explosive AI demand. This tech shrinkflation leaves console makers with a difficult choice: absorb these record-breaking costs or, more likely, pass the hike directly to consumers.
Samsung
Price Hikes Hit TVs and Displays
The bad news doesn't stop at the console box. Speaking to Bloomberg, Wonjin Lee, head of global marketing at Samsung, warned that "issues" with semiconductor supplies will impact everyone, forcing price hikes on everything from phones to home appliances. Crucially for gamers, this includes televisions and monitors.
With the cost of display components rising alongside memory, upgrading your screen to match a new console is becoming a much steeper investment, as reported by Gamerant. If you are looking for a new TV, the window to snag a good deal is closing fast before these new manufacturing costs become the standard.
The ripple effect is already hitting future hardware timelines. Even the PC space isn't safe; Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine is rumored to land anywhere between $800 and $900 for the 512GB and 2TB versions. The consensus from experts is clear: if you want a console, buy it now.
To dodge the incoming price hikes, it’s smarter to purchase current-generation hardware immediately or look into refurbished units of the PS5, Xbox Series X, or Switch. Alternatively, many gamers are bypassing hardware entirely by turning to subscription services like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and GeForce NOW. But until major new fabrication plants come online, a process that will take years, gaming is unfortunately becoming a more premium luxury.
