Dell CEO flags RAM risk

Dell chief executive Michael Dell said on April 7 that demand for computer memory could rise so fast by 2028 that pricing may reach “unimaginable levels.” (wccftech.com) Dell made the remark during a Bank of America fireside chat after Dell Technologies reported record fiscal 2026 results on February 26, including $64 billion in artificial-intelligence server orders, more than $25 billion shipped, and a $43 billion backlog entering fiscal 2027. (finance.yahoo.com) (dell.com) The arithmetic behind the warning is straightforward: Dell said memory per artificial-intelligence accelerator could rise about 25 times, while the number of deployed accelerators could also rise about 25 times, implying a 625-fold jump in total memory demand. (wccftech.com) Random access memory is the short-term working space a computer uses while it runs software, and the fastest version for artificial-intelligence chips is high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, which sits close to the processor so data moves faster. Manufacturers including Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron use overlapping production capacity for HBM and more ordinary dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, used in servers, workstations, and personal computers. (spglobal.com) That supply mix has already pushed up prices. TrendForce said on February 26 that conventional DRAM contract prices rose 45 percent to 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025 and could rise another 90 percent to 95 percent quarter over quarter in the first quarter of 2026. (trendforce.com) S&P Global Market Intelligence said on January 28 that suppliers are steering more wafer capacity to HBM because margins are higher there, tightening supply for standard DRAM and lifting expected 2026 average selling prices for conventional memory. Its estimates showed Samsung’s traditional DRAM revenue per bit rising 116 percent in 2026, SK Hynix’s 78 percent, and Micron’s 54 percent. (spglobal.com) For companies planning workstations or artificial-intelligence-capable personal computers, the pressure point is not only graphics processors. Memory is a direct bill-of-materials cost, and tighter DRAM allocation can raise prices on systems that do not use premium HBM at all. (spglobal.com) (trendforce.com) Memory makers are expanding, but not quickly enough to erase the near-term squeeze. S&P Global said new fabrication capacity will take years to arrive, while Micron has already told investors its 2026 HBM supply is sold out. (spglobal.com) (fool.com) Dell’s warning does not guarantee every laptop or workstation will spike in price this quarter. It does put memory back at the center of hardware budgeting, just as Dell is booking tens of billions of dollars in artificial-intelligence infrastructure demand and suppliers are repricing DRAM upward. (dell.com) (trendforce.com)