In China’s electronics hub, a memory chip crisis is hitting consumers hard

AI Summary

A trader in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei electronics hub describes a surge in memory chip prices driven by the global AI boom, leading to tripled costs for memory products over the past year. This spike is heavily impacting the electronics wholesale market and increasing the expense of assembling personal computers.

For Cai, a trader in Shenzhen’s vast Huaqiangbei electronics hub, the business of assembling computers for gamers and corporate clients has suddenly become dramatically more expensive. The price of memory products in Huaqiangbei has tripled over the past year amid the global artificial intelligence boom – and the spike has hit the world’s largest wholesale electronics market hard. “Right now, memory and SSDs are the biggest cost drivers in a personal computer build,” Cai said, referring to...