The world has a memory problem, thanks to artificial intelligence.

The explosion in AI-related cloud computing and data centers has led to so much demand for certain types of memory chips that now there’s a shortage. The imbalance is expected to start affecting prices of all sorts of products powered by technology.

“I keep telling everybody that if you want a device, you buy it now,” said Avril Wu, a senior research vice president at TrendForce, a Taiwan-based consultancy that tracks markets for computer components. “I myself bought an iPhone 17 already,”

The chips are known as RAM, or random access memory, and are crucial to making sure that things like smartphones, computers and game consoles run smoothly. Chips allow you to keep multiple tabs open in browsers, for instance, or watch videos without them being choppy.