A supply shortage is the last thing tech companies want to talk about at CES. The memory chip shortage is already dire for companies and for individuals who build their own PCs. Photograph: Luke Larsen“We're waiting for the AI bubble to pop,” a spokesperson from a small PC manufacturer who wished to remain anonymous told me when asked about how they were handling the memory shortage. This is the worst shortage I’ve ever seen.” Dell COO Jeff ClarkeDRAM, or dynamic random-access memory, is the kind of memory used in laptops and phones, and it’s what the three main memory manufacturers are now turning their backs on in favor of high-bandwidth memory for AI data centers. But hoarding memory will only have two effects: It will raise prices even more or further tighten supply.