Automakers, retailers warn memory chip shortage impacting prices - MSN

Industry groups representing automakers, retailers, and electronics firms warned that the rapid shift of memory chips toward AI data centers could lead to significant price increases in consumer goods... Read original →

The insatiable demand for HBM from AI data centers is triggering a supply chain squeeze that sidelines traditional sectors. Automotive LPDDR4/5 and retail NAND flash face acute shortages as foundries like TSMC and Samsung redirect wafer capacity toward HBM3E and CoWoS advanced packaging. This isn’t mere allocation friction—it’s a structural imbalance driven by technological divergence. Without U.S. policy intervention establishing cross-sectoral allocation protocols, inflationary pressure will intensify. Over the next 12 months, automakers may resort to chip downgrading, while retailers pass costs to consumers. Crucially, global semiconductor capacity allocation is shifting from market-driven to geopolitically steered logic, with mature-node expansion in Taiwan, China and mainland China becoming the critical buffer against systemic disruption.