There are growing concerns that the shortage of memory chips is going to have a negative impact on the TV industry, with “RAMageddon” likely to send prices skyrocketing later this year.
It’s thought that the RAM crisis is already impacting certain industries, with FlatpanelsHD reporting that Sony is likely to delay the launch of its upcoming PlayStation 6 console due to a shortage of vital components. But console makers won’t be the only ones to suffer.
The world’s supply of memory chips is being gobbled up by greedy AI companies and the data centers that power their large language models, resulting in shortages for everyone else. When RAM supply becomes scarce, prices of these essential components tend to shoot up, meaning higher production costs for every kind of electronic product as companies are forced to compete with one another.
A report in The Verge this week cites industry experts from IDC, Counterpoint and Omdia, who all warn of dire consequences. Analysts are convinced that sales of smartphones, consoles and computers are going to decline this year, simply because there isn’t enough RAM to go around.
Smartphone sales are likely to decline by around 8% compared to the previous year, while PC sales will dip by between 5% and 9%. Meanwhile, prices of those products could rise by as much as 30%.
According to Qualcomm, which manufactures chips for virtually all of the world’s smartphones, has said it’s going to have to raise its prices this year, due to a shortage of both RAM and NAND flash chips. During a recent earnings call, the chipmaker’s CFO warned that a number of smartphone manufacturers are already planning for lower production this year.
Meanwhile, Phison CEO Khein-Seng Pua said in a recent interview that the crisis could result in numerous smaller manufacturers of electronics goods going bankrupt. He predicted that larger manufacturers are in a position to negotiate better deals with memory chip suppliers, and as a result, the smaller players may not be able to buy any RAM and NAND chips at all, forcing them out of business.
Khein-Seng Pua is in a position to know. Phison is a major player in the storage industry, accounting for 20% of the SSD controller market, a 40% share of the automotive storage market and a significant slice of the server SSD market. He believes that smartphone makers will be the hardest hit, but he also had bad news for the TV industry. While TVs don’t use the most advanced forms of RAM, there’s still a concerning shortage of older generation memory products. In addition, the costs of storage modules – essential in TVs – are also rising sharply. For instance, an 8GB eMMC storage module would sell for around $1.50 last year, but the average price now is closer to $20. That’s a 13-times increase, if you can find any available supplies.
Last month, we also had a direct warning from Samsung, which said during its most recent earnings call that its TV prices “could rise.”
The question is, how significant will the impact of RAMageddon be on the smart TV market. The vast majority of any TV’s production costs is related to the panel and the backlight, but memory chips are essential components nevertheless. The reality is that if TV makers don’t have enough, then they can’t manufacture their products. That could mean there’s a shortage of new TV models set to be launched later this year, increasing demand for them and pushing prices up.
If you’re in the market for a new TV and are planning to wait until companies like Samsung, LG Electronics and Sony launch their 2026 models, be aware that prices could be a lot higher by the time they launch. If budget is a concern, it might be better to snap up a TV earlier, before that happens.
