AI Boom Drains Global Memory Supply: Adata Warns of Historic Shortages in DRAM and NAND Chips

According to the head of the Taiwanese memory manufacturer Adata, AI data centers are ensuring that the supply of simple DRAM and NAND chips for RAM, SSDs and hard drives is reaching its limits worldwide. According to him, the suppliers’ warehouses are empty.

Bottlenecks like no other for decades

Adata boss Simon Chen says he has never experienced such a simultaneous shortage across all storage variants in his three decades in the industry. Opposite the Taiwan branch service DigiTimes Chen explained that as a result, there is currently virtually no competition between memory product manufacturers.

Instead, the operators of data centers in the field of artificial intelligence have been in the process of buying up practically the entire market and the manufacturing capacities available for it for some time. In addition, due to bottlenecks in the supply of classic hard drives, people are now increasingly using SSDs for simple storage tasks, which further increases the demand for NAND flash.

Manufacturers sell almost all of their production to AI companies

The situation among storage suppliers is currently dramatic, which is why they often only have stocks for around two to three weeks – these providers normally have enough stocks to cover two to three months. Essentially, memory manufacturers such as SK Hynix, Samsung, Micron, Kioxia and Western Digital are currently selling their entire capacities to customers in the AI ​​market.

For Adata, as a manufacturer of products that use memory chips, the enormous demand is currently causing a surge. The company’s share price has skyrocketed since August and it reported its highest sales in 15 years for the second quarter of 2025. Looking at the industry as a whole, demand from AI providers is also driving enormous growth.

Sales of memory chips recently increased by 17 percent, while revenue from the sale of enterprise SSDs rose by almost 13 percent. For end customers, the shortages mean that they have to prepare for rising prices for SSDs, RAM, USB storage products, smartphones, desktop and notebook PCs and virtually all other devices that use flash or DRAM modules.