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How AI Data Centers Are Making Everything More Expensive
How AI Data Centers Are Making Everything More Expensive
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0:00
In 2025, this MacBook Pro cost $1,600.
0:04
Less than a year later, the same laptop
0:07
cost $400 more.
0:09
Apple says it's because of demand for
0:11
memory and storage fueled by the rapid
0:14
expansion of AI data centers. That's the
0:17
exact [music] same reason Xbox gave for
0:19
a $150 price hike on its nearly
0:22
6-year-old console.
0:24
Lenovo, Dell, and HP have all raised
0:28
prices, too, citing the same culprit.
0:31
>> Just these seven drives alone is over
0:33
six or seven thousand dollars. When I
0:34
bought them,
0:35
>> [music]
0:35
>> they were probably about $1,500 all in.
0:38
These prices aren't tethered to new
0:40
technology. They've just gone up because
0:42
some center in some place needs them
0:44
more than I do.
0:45
>> The narrative is that AI data centers
0:47
are buying up huge amounts of memory and
0:49
chips, causing shortages and
0:51
skyrocketing prices for everyday
0:53
electronics.
0:55
There's just one issue. Data centers
0:57
don't use the same type of microchips as
0:59
your phone or laptop. And now, the
1:01
world's biggest memory chip makers are
1:03
being sued for allegedly colluding to
1:05
inflate prices. So, who or what is
1:09
actually [music] to blame? AI data
1:10
centers or the companies making the
1:12
chips?
1:15
And could a moratorium on data centers
1:17
actually force prices down?
1:21
To know what's really going on with
1:23
these tech prices, we first need to
1:25
understand three [music] types of
1:27
microchips: NAND, DRAM, and HBM.
1:31
In terms of memory, they work a bit like
1:33
the human brain. [music]
1:35
NAND is like your long-term memory. It
1:37
holds onto information even after a
1:39
device is powered off.
1:41
>> Think of an iPhone is the best example.
1:44
If you take a lot of photos, a thousand
1:46
photos in a month or something like
1:47
that, and they're on your phone, that's
1:49
usually stored in in NAND storage.
1:51
[music]
1:52
>> DRAM, or dynamic random access memory,
1:55
is your short-term memory. Fast, but
1:57
temporary, and it clears the moment you
1:59
switch the power off. HBM, or
2:02
high-bandwidth memory, is essentially
2:04
DRAM on steroids.
2:06
It's the same kind of short-term memory,
2:08
but it's designed to process much more
2:11
data at once, more than any human brain
2:13
could.
2:14
While NAND [music] and DRAM chips are
2:17
used to power devices like smartphones,
2:19
tablets, computers, and smart TVs, HBM
2:22
chips are used to power AI systems.
2:25
All DRAM, NAND, and HBM microchips start
2:29
out as thin silicon wafers.
2:31
>> The key point is that the more of these
2:34
tiny, tiny cells and connections you can
2:36
cram onto a wafer, the more data you can
2:39
store onto that.
2:40
>> HBM is a whole other level of storage
2:43
capacity.
2:44
>> HBM takes one of those chips, and they
2:48
stack them vertically next to another
2:50
one, and then another one, and then
2:51
another one, and then they're kind of
2:52
packaged together in a kind of 3D shape.
2:55
When you mash all those chips together,
2:58
you get a lot more memory.
3:00
>> HBM can move data five to 10 times
3:03
[music] faster than a standard DRAM
3:05
chip. Its stacked design also makes
3:07
manufacturing HBM chips significantly
3:09
[music] more complex.
3:12
>> All that complexity just basically means
3:14
that that they [music] um
3:16
they're much more expensive to
3:17
manufacture, and actually they take a
3:19
lot more kind of manufacturing capacity.
3:21
>> These HBM chips are the backbone of AI
3:24
data centers, and demand for them is
3:26
through the roof. So, if HBM is what
3:30
powers AI, why is there a shortage of
3:32
the other two types?
3:34
It all comes down to just three
3:35
companies: Micron, Samsung, and SK
3:39
Hynix.
3:40
Together, they produce more than 60% of
3:43
the world's NAND and nearly 90% of its
3:46
DRAM.
3:47
All three companies have shifted at
3:49
least some of their production capacity
3:51
to building HBM microchips.
3:53
And the stock prices for all three
3:55
companies jumped massively between
3:57
[music] June 2025 and June 2026.
4:00
>> If you're a memory chip company,
4:02
obviously you're going to go to the best
4:03
customers and right now those are the AI
4:06
companies.
4:07
>> That means less capacity [music] to
4:08
produce the other kinds of chips. This
4:11
shift is no surprise when you realize
4:13
how central AI has become to the US
4:15
economy.
4:16
>> Largest capital spending booms we've
4:18
ever seen.
4:19
>> Artificial intelligence is transforming
4:20
the economy right before our eyes.
4:22
>> 80% of stock gains this year came from
4:27
AI companies.
4:30
>> Altogether, tech giants Google,
4:32
Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon have spent
4:34
more than $1 trillion
4:36
on expanding AI since 2023.
4:40
As of August 2026, there are 2,228
4:43
new data centers in planning or
4:45
construction [music] stages across the
4:47
US.
4:48
With less DRAM and NAND available,
4:50
prices are soaring.
4:54
Those higher component costs land on
4:57
electronics companies, but instead of
4:59
completely absorbing the extra expense,
5:01
they're passing the bill on to
5:02
customers.
5:04
For instance, in June [music] Xbox
5:05
announced it would raise the price of
5:07
its 512 GB Series [music] S gaming
5:10
console from $400 to $500, and the 1 TB
5:15
version from 450 to $600. It also
5:18
announced it would be discontinuing its
5:20
2 TB console. We went to a gaming
5:23
tournament at OSNYC to see how gamers
5:26
are TAKING THE NEWS.
5:32
>> ALL RIGHT. ALL RIGHT.
5:33
>> YOU KNOW, I WAS THINKING ABOUT BUYING a
5:35
Xbox Series S. And back then it was it
5:37
was nice and affordable. It was around
5:39
like $300. Because of what's going on,
5:41
it's up to $600.
5:43
It's just just
5:45
Out of my budget.
5:46
>> In the vast history of gaming, there's a
5:48
great story. I just hope that that story
5:51
doesn't have a bad ending coming soon
5:53
with
5:54
all all the AI. Welcome things up.
5:56
>> And it's not just Xbox. PC gaming gear
5:58
is getting hit, too.
6:00
>> I was expecting to go buy a Steam Deck,
6:03
but because of the AI bubble and what
6:05
the story is, it's completely sold out.
6:07
Today they finally stock, but they
6:08
increase the prices just to match the
6:11
the the current market.
6:13
>> Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has already said
6:16
that the gaming industry is pricing out
6:18
some consumers. Price hikes like this
6:20
are exacerbating it.
6:22
>> I may have to put gaming and start
6:23
watching sports.
6:25
>> Frustration over Xbox's plans to
6:27
continue raising prices into 2027 is
6:30
something gaming YouTuber Luke Stephens
6:32
has seen firsthand.
6:34
>> Who among you
6:36
is buying that for, let's say, $9.99?
6:40
We're going to let this scroll and see
6:41
where you're at. Jesus, I see a good
6:44
number of notes.
6:45
>> [laughter]
6:47
>> While Xbox has not announced the price
6:49
of its next generation console, the
6:51
company warned that console memory and
6:53
storage costs
6:54
>> [music]
6:54
>> are expected to double again by the fall
6:57
of 2027.
6:58
>> The announcement isn't surprising, but
7:00
it it sure is disappointing, you know?
7:03
We have a 6-year-old console that is,
7:06
for the top-tier variant, you know,
7:07
approaching a thousand dollars.
7:09
So, can you only imagine what the new
7:11
one is going to cost?
7:12
>> [laughter]
7:14
>> It's created a feeling of dread among a
7:17
lot of the gaming [music] community
7:18
where normally there's excitement right
7:20
around this time.
7:21
>> Luke says these pricing trends are
7:23
slowly changing the landscape of gaming.
7:26
>> I think they're going to start to
7:27
basically sell consoles like they sell
7:28
cell phones, where it's just yeah, you
7:30
get on a 2-year, 3-year plan or
7:32
whatever, and that's just how it is.
7:33
Because it is just getting to a point
7:35
where it's just not affordable for
7:36
people to own it outright. There's just
7:38
not that many people that can afford,
7:39
especially right now, a 12 to 1500
7:42
dollar console when all is said and
7:44
done, it just doesn't work. Like the
7:46
math isn't there.
7:47
>> The thing is, Microsoft, Xbox's parent
7:49
company, is one of the companies
7:51
investing heavily in data center
7:53
expansion. Business Insider mapped out
7:55
1,416
7:57
built or approved data [music] centers
7:59
as of June 2026. 53 of those were built
8:02
by Microsoft, and many of them are
8:04
massive.
8:06
Of the companies we tracked, only Amazon
8:08
surpassed Microsoft in large-scale data
8:10
center construction.
8:12
Microsoft expects to spend roughly $175
8:15
billion on AI in 2026 [music] alone.
8:19
So, if Microsoft is buying enough HBM
8:21
chips to run its data centers, why won't
8:23
it do the same for its gaming division?
8:26
The issue is, there [music] simply
8:27
aren't enough chips to go around. Even
8:29
the most powerful companies are
8:30
struggling to get their hands on the
8:32
shrinking supply.
8:33
>> Apple is one of, if not the largest
8:37
purchaser of a lot of these, like,
8:39
memory modules and stuff, at least for
8:41
consumer-facing hardware
8:43
in the [music] world.
8:44
And so, for them to be facing the same
8:46
difficulties with acquiring the pieces
8:49
that they need to to build their
8:51
electronics,
8:51
>> [music]
8:52
>> is pretty remarkable.
8:53
>> Apple has kind of lost control of the
8:57
computer supply chain a little bit
8:58
lately because it doesn't have a lot of
9:01
AI data centers.
9:02
>> Rising memory prices are hitting the
9:04
people who rely on storage to make a
9:06
living.
9:07
Atlanta commercial photographer Alan
9:09
Cooley says he typically spends anywhere
9:11
from $15,000
9:13
to $20,000 on storage devices each year.
9:17
The biggest price hikes he's noticed are
9:18
for solid-state drives.
9:21
>> These are more traditional SSDs or
9:23
solid-state drives that I use. This is a
9:25
4-terabyte SanDisk. This is a 2-terabyte
9:28
SanDisk.
9:30
These are Samsungs. They're T7s. These
9:32
T5 drives, these are like 1 terabyte.
9:35
Just these seven drives alone is over
9:36
six or seven thousand dollars. When I
9:38
bought them, they were probably about
9:40
fifteen hundred dollars all in.
9:42
This is a five hundred gig Cfast card. I
9:45
use this when I'm doing
9:47
stuff with my cinema cameras. My photo
9:49
cameras will use Cfast or CFexpress
9:52
cards and [music] they'll also use SD
9:54
cards. All in, everything you see here
9:56
is about seventy-five hundred dollars.
9:57
If we were to go up to two hundred
9:59
percent, which is something I've
10:00
definitely seen, we're talking about
10:03
what is that? [music] Twenty-one
10:05
thousand, twenty-two thousand dollars
10:07
for the same stuff that was just seven
10:08
thousand?
10:09
That's
10:10
I could not have bought half of this
10:12
stuff if the numbers were that high.
10:14
>> We had Alan compare the prices he paid
10:16
for storage in the past with what they'd
10:18
cost him today.
10:20
>> So, I'm looking at the blue four
10:23
terabyte Samsung T7.
10:27
It is currently eight hundred
10:28
eighty-nine dollars. [music]
10:30
Um, and that's a sale, but because it's
10:33
actually one thousand one hundred and
10:34
forty-four dollars and ninety-nine
10:36
cents.
10:37
When I go to my receipt for these
10:39
drives, I bought it at the time for two
10:42
hundred eighty-five dollars. So, that
10:44
two hundred eighty-five dollar drive is
10:46
now
10:47
well over a thousand dollars. I
10:49
purchased this drive in April on April
10:51
19th of 2025.
10:53
April 19th of 2025
10:56
till July of 2026, we're talking about
11:00
it has gone up over two hundred percent.
11:03
Crazy.
11:04
But, when I scroll through here and I
11:06
see the prices of SSDs today and the
11:08
idea that they expect me to use my
11:10
hard-earned money to pay this much for
11:13
something that was whatever two hundred
11:15
percent cheaper just last year alone,
11:18
they are bugging.
11:20
>> Like Apple and Xbox, photographers could
11:22
soon feel forced to pass [music] rising
11:24
storage costs onto the clients.
11:27
>> I am in this actual moment blown away.
11:31
These prices aren't [music] tethered to
11:33
new technology. It's not that they went
11:35
up because they become so exponentially
11:37
better than they were.
11:40
>> Allan's story is identical to the ones
11:42
Jeff Hirsch has been hearing from his
11:44
customers, too.
11:45
>> They say, "Well, [music] I don't
11:47
understand this. Last year, this was
11:49
only a $50 memory card.
11:53
It now it's over $100.
11:56
Why?"
11:57
>> Jeff is the president of Photo Care, a
11:59
camera store in New York established in
12:00
1968. He says prices for memory cards
12:04
and solid state drives [music] have
12:05
doubled since the beginning of 2026.
12:08
>> Solid state drive became a standard, and
12:11
it's actually small now, 1 TB.
12:13
>> [music]
12:14
>> So, this right now is over $300,
12:18
and
12:19
8 months ago, before the turn of the
12:21
year, it was maybe $170. [music]
12:24
A one customer that was shooting a movie
12:28
bought cards that were effectively, say,
12:31
$500 a card.
12:33
Last year was the last time that person
12:35
[music] bought more cards,
12:36
uh they were $1,300 a card.
12:39
>> He says the high prices for memory have
12:41
put financial pressure on his clients
12:43
who depend on them for work.
12:45
>> It's just a tough spot right now for
12:48
[music] people that are using electronic
12:51
cameras in making their their living.
12:54
We've seen [music] our
12:56
media sales numbers as far as quantity
13:00
decrease by
13:03
30%.
13:04
>> Jeff worries recent price hikes could
13:06
have broader implications for the
13:07
industry.
13:08
>> I don't want to say it's putting
13:10
electronic media out of reach of some
13:12
people, but
13:14
it is
13:15
coming close to that.
13:19
>> So, is there any relief in sight?
13:22
Possibly. One solution is to open more
13:24
chip factories, known as fabs, [music]
13:26
to increase supply. But opening a fab is
13:28
not cheap. The cost of building one is
13:31
estimated between $15 billion and $20
13:34
billion.
13:34
>> [music]
13:35
>> The majority of that cost comes from the
13:36
expensive machines needed to make these
13:39
chips.
13:40
Just one [music] costs up to $400
13:42
million, and
13:43
a single facility needs rows and rows of
13:45
them.
13:46
Keeping fabs clean [music] is also very
13:48
expensive. Many require specifically
13:50
designed clean rooms to protect
13:53
sensitive silicon wafers from dust and
13:55
other airborne particles [music] that
13:56
could cause microscopic defects.
13:59
And even if the cost of construction
14:01
weren't an issue, it would [music] still
14:03
take 3 to 5 years to build a single fab.
14:06
>> You can't just flick a switch and say we
14:08
we're going to double the amount of
14:10
memory chip production
14:12
>> [music]
14:12
>> in 6 months.
14:13
>> SK Hynix told Business Insider that it's
14:16
fast-tracking the construction of fabs
14:18
with the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster,
14:20
which was scheduled for completion in
14:22
2045, but has been moved up to 2023.
14:25
Some critics believe the memory shortage
14:27
may be manufactured. In June 2026, 17
14:31
plaintiffs [music] filed a class action
14:33
antitrust lawsuit alleging that Micron,
14:36
Samsung, and SK Hynix [music] worked
14:38
together to limit memory supply and
14:40
drive up prices. This is not the first
14:43
time these companies have been in hot
14:44
water. In the early 2000s, Samsung and
14:47
Hynix pleaded guilty to conspiring
14:49
[music] to fix DRAM prices. Micron
14:51
admitted to participating in the same
14:53
conspiracy, but escaped prosecution by
14:55
cooperating with federal investigators.
14:58
>> When that type of
14:59
demand hits an industry like this,
15:02
there's [music] a lot less leeway, and
15:04
there's really a lot more control that
15:06
these three or four companies exert over
15:08
[music] the industry. Sometimes that's
15:10
okay, but sometimes it's really really
15:11
damaging, and it'll be up to
15:14
the people involved in this lawsuit to
15:15
to prove those damages beyond beyond a
15:18
reasonable doubt.
15:18
>> Another solution would be slowing the
15:20
expansion of AI data centers to help
15:23
chip production catch up. And that push
15:25
is growing. Data centers have faced
15:28
growing backlash from communities across
15:30
the US for their long-term effects on
15:32
both the environment and the economy.
15:35
>> If AI data center constructions slows by
15:37
half or it takes twice as long
15:40
to develop these things or or if fewer
15:42
of them actually get done or actually
15:44
get approved, then you you could you
15:46
could really have a change in in AI
15:49
demand for memory chips for sure.
15:51
>> On July 18th, 2026, 142 protests [music]
15:55
opposing data center build-outs took
15:57
place across 42 states. So far, dozens
16:01
of local governments across the US have
16:03
[music] moved to pause data center
16:04
construction.
16:06
In July 2026, New York became the first
16:08
state to enact a 1-year moratorium.
16:12
>> This pause will remain in place for up
16:14
to 1 year
16:15
while New York establishes the strongest
16:18
possible framework to protect our
16:21
communities.
16:21
>> If politics and things like permitting
16:24
and things like that, if those types of
16:26
issues slow down AI development, you
16:29
could certainly see a knock-on effect on
16:32
demand for memory chips and storage.
16:34
>> The only question left is whether in the
16:36
age of AI memory prices [music] will
16:38
ever go down. If what's past is
16:41
prologue, Alister says history might
16:44
give us a clue.
16:45
>> Go back
16:46
two or three decades, the memory chip
16:49
industry was hugely cyclical. So there'd
16:51
be these huge boom periods where demand
16:54
would go up and there wasn't enough
16:56
supply and prices would really rise and
16:58
memory chip makers would make massive
17:00
amounts of money. And then demand would
17:03
slow down a bit, production would
17:05
increase and there'd be oversupply and
17:07
then prices would crash back down. That
17:10
type of long-term history of boom and
17:12
bust cycles is very, very hard to break.
17:14
We might just make way too many memory
17:16
chips in 2 years time and then prices
17:19
will come crashing down again. I've been
17:20
doing this for 20 or 30 years now and
17:23
and a lot of things that people thought
17:25
would last forever
17:27
haven't lasted forever. So, I think I I
17:28
think that's certainly going to be true
17:30
again.
