Electronics Prices Spike
Electronics prices are rising. What’s the reason?
Everyone–almost everyone–has electronics of some sort, like a phone, laptop, tablet, you name it (if you don’t, tell me your ways of reading this. I need the secrets for when I have power outages). Anyways, they could become scarce and expensive sooner than you might expect. This may sound a little ridiculous to say in the least, yet already, some components of computers have skyrocketed, nearly doubling or even tripling in price since 2025.
Diving deeper into the roots, this problem is mostly because of AI. Let me elaborate. So recently, many tech companies have been converting to supplying AI, for the sole reason of profit–super enticing. The companies earn money through the revenue that AI provides them, which comes from three main factors: AI subscriptions, grants, and partnerships. Big AI companies such as OpenAI “actively seek out grants from government agencies” and others that seek to achieve the same mission as them, as well as making partnerships with companies who see a fountain of money pouring out of AI (Roald Larsen, “Exploring OpenAI's Business and Revenue Model”). Since most people are unable to pour thousands and thousands of dollars into electronics, many tech companies find a lack of incentive to stay in the technology business and see an overwhelming potential in AI. Powered by profit, these tech companies move to AI as they seek more money.
Although computer prices are currently among the most heavily affected by these changes, that doesn’t mean it’ll take a load off the prices of other electronics. Most modern electronics, like iPhones, iPads, and Androids, have memory chips, graphics cards, or a CPU and many more parts, all of which AI is yearning for. In addition, these parts are sourced from elsewhere, not made by the company itself. Major companies such as Apple or Samsung source their parts from elsewhere, so even if those companies don’t convert to AI, products such as phones could skyrocket in price, during the search for new suppliers.
Here are some of the (important) companies that have converted to AI.
Micron
NVIDIA
Apple
AMD
AWS
IBM
Intel
Qualcom
Cerebras Systems
Tenstorrent
You probably don’t know most of these companies that I just listed, maybe except Apple or NVIDIA, but I can promise you these companies are all very important – trust me. Just the absence of Micron alone, has resulted in RAM (think of it as a temporary memory for electronics) and SSD (storage) prices increasing by up to 300%. You also may be wondering, if Apple has converted to AI, why can I still buy iPhones? I have an answer for you. Not all companies converted 100% to AI, unlike Micron. Boo, make better choices next time, Micron.
These AI companies use these newly found materials to make agentic AI, which is important, but not the topic I’m writing about so I’ll sum it up. Agentic AI performs complex, multiple step tasks independently, and this system is so promising that big AI companies are pouring resources into it (This situation is getting out of control. Firstly, tech companies give their resources to AI companies, then AI companies use those resources to make agentic AI. What’s going to happen next? Agentic AI grows a consciousness and invests in tech companies, creating a loop?). While AI in general may seem negative, it actually has some positive impacts. For example, it sped up medical research and breakthroughs, which benefits all of us. Additionally, AI has also supported in optimizing industrial processes and scientific research which might not benefit us directly, but it helps the world advance.
Regardless, of what AI is secretly planning behind the scenes, agentic AI and modern electronics have more similarities than you might suspect. First off, both use a lot of tech components to make/develop. While phones, and other electronics don’t use that much by themselves, it adds up when companies are making tens of thousands per day. Also, they both can process huge amounts of data, but unlike electronics, agentic AI and every other AI are designed to do more, ranging from simple image recognition to solving a 50 year-old protein “folding” problem.
Anyways, you may be asking, is this going to change my life so drastically that I can’t even begin to look back and imagine how the world was back then when electronics prices weren’t skyrocketing? The answer is probably not. Popular Mechanics announces that “prices for smartphones could rise by up to 30 percent.” While 30 percent isn’t life changing, just remember that as AI keeps rising, electronic prices will too. While not always negative, there are sure to be side effects of electronics prices spiking and AI growing, similar to how tariffs were added to everything and protests arose when Trump was elected.
In the future, if many tech companies do end up transitioning into AI, electronic prices skyrocketing is basically guaranteed. I just hope I don’t have to go back to those Nokia phones when my phone breaks down because I accidentally “dropped” it a little too hard on the wall.
Works Cited
Richardson, Kelly. “10 top AI hardware and chip-making companies in 2026”Tech Target,
https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/tip/Top-AI-hardware-companies
Larsen, Roald. “Exploring OpenAI’s Business And Revenue Model: A Comprehensive Explanation.” UNTAYLORED,
https://www.untaylored.com/post/exploring-openai-s-business-and-revenue-model-a-comprehensive-explanation#:~:text=OpenAI%20generates%20revenue%20through%20various,source%20of%20revenue%20for%20OpenAI.
Jancer, Matt. “The AI Boom is Making Tech More Expensive: What Shoppers Should Expect in 2026.” Popular Mechanics,
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gear/a70202885/gpu-ram-shortage-tech-prices-rising-2026-explainer/
