Ramageddon
‘Ramageddon’ began in 2025 when Samsung, SK hynix and Micron, the three companies that make almost all the world’s DRAM, started shifting production away from the memory chips used in laptops & phones
‘Ramageddon’ began in 2025 when Samsung, SK hynix and Micron, the three companies that make almost all the world’s DRAM, started shifting production away from the memory chips used in laptops and phones and toward high-bandwidth memory for AI data centres. Early plans for OpenAI’s Stargate project had called for Samsung and SK hynix to supply up to 900,000 memory wafers a month, around 40% of global output for this type of memory. [1]
In response, Microsoft put up Xbox prices and dropped the 2 TB model. Valve had planned to build its first Steam Machines with two 8 GB memory sticks, but the modules were impossible to source in volume, so the machines shipped with a single, slower 16 GB stick instead. Dell warned commercial customers that costs were rising across every product it sold. Its chief operating officer, Jeff Clarke, said the situation was unprecedented: “We’re in a very unique time. It’s unprecedented. We have not seen costs move at the rate that we’ve seen.” [2]
Even with aggressive expansion plans, manufacturers are expected to meet only around 60% of demand by the end of 2027. SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has warned that the shortage could last until 2030, as new wafer capacity takes four or five years to bring online. [3]
Given the scarcity and eye-watering prices, YouTuber Dr. Semiconductor decided to take matters into his own hands by converting his garden shed into a Class 100 cleanroom. He built his own fabrication tools from scratch, and then ran the full semiconductor process by hand to produce what is, as far as anyone knows, the first working array of functional DRAM memory cells ever made in a backyard shed. “First time ever, RAM has been made at home”, he said. “But while you can store data on it, you can’t run Doom on it quite yet.” [4]
References:
[1] Astute Group, “Samsung and SK Hynix to Supply 900,000 DRAM Wafers Monthly for OpenAI’s Stargate Project,” October 7, 2025, https://www.astutegroup.com/news/general/samsung-and-sk-hynix-to-supply-900000-dram-wafers-monthly-for-openais-500-billion-stargate-project/.
[2] CRN, “Dell Technologies COO Jeff Clarke Says Price Increases Coming As ‘Unprecedented’ Memory Shortage Takes Hold,” November 26, 2025, https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/2025/dell-technologies-coo-jeff-clarke-says-price-increases-coming-as-unprecedented-memory-shortage-takes-hold
[3] Reuters, “SK Group Chairman Says Wafer Shortage to Last Until 2030,” March 16, 2026, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-koreas-sk-group-chairman-expects-chip-wafer-shortage-last-until-2030-eyes-2026-03-16/
[4] Dr. Semiconductor, “I Made Working RAM in My Backyard Shed,” YouTube video, April 2026,
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