#ai-demand

#ai-demand

(Bloomberg/Ryan Vlastelica) Soaring prices for memory and storage components have turned companies like Sandisk Corp., Micron Technology Inc. and Western Digital Corp. into the hottest stocks in the market over the past year. But they're causing headaches for many of their customers. Hardware companies from Apple Inc. to HP Inc. are under pressure, as their need for expensive memory components becomes an investing risk one that isn't expected to reverse anytime soon. They're in a tough position, said Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, which has $9.1 billion in assets and runs an exchange-traded fund dedicated to AI infrastructure.

Expect this year to be filled with flux and uncertainty, thanks to lightning-fast changes wrought by AI, and by a Trump Administration that rules by whim and fiat rather than facts and law. So, I know it's something of a fool's game to make predictions about what the year ahead might bring for Microsoft. That said, I've never worried about being called a fool. So here are my five predictions for what Microsoft can expect in 2026.

The increasing demand for AI among tech companies is one of the reasons why the global shortage of memory chips remains an ongoing issue. And while it's expected to adversely affect the production of smartphones, Samsung Electronics co-CEO T M Roh has warned that TVs and home appliances may also be hit by shortages and increased prices. "As this situation is unprecedented, no company is immune to its impact," said Roh via Reuters.

On Wednesday, CyberPowerPC announced that it plans to adjust the pricing across all of its systems on December 7th, as reported earlier by PCMag. "Recently, global memory (RAM) prices have surged by 500% and SSD prices have risen by 100%," CyberPowerPC says in a statement posted on X. "This has had a direct impact on the cost of building gaming PCs since 10/1/25."

Miller mentioned AWS has learned to 'consider multiple options in parallel' regarding data center capacity, reflecting routine capacity management amid strong demand.