The AI buildout is reshaping the global economy. Memory chip demand has already pushed consumer electronics prices up, and RAM prices are expected to increase a further 40-50% in the coming quarter.
The three biggest memorymakers have seen profits and market caps surge, while shares in tech’s “Magnificent Seven” — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla — have fallen 10% on growing input costs and concerns over data-center spending.
Those outlays have boosted other areas of the economy, though: US steel demand has grown so fast that the industry is power-constrained, and is competing for electricity with the very data centers it is helping to build, The Wall Street Journal reported.