It is nothing short of an apocalyptic scenario. The prices of RAMs and additional SSDs have increased two to threefold, and the future seems even more bleak. In order to understand what is going on, and when the market will stabilise, we have caught up with Ananya Zaman from PC Builders Bangladesh.

AI: The true criminal

Recent upticks in the race for building AI models have pushed the big guns of tech to invest heavily in AI data centres. Some giants such as Meta and X are even proposing to build nuclear power plants as a means of generating the electricity needed to maintain these centres.

No matter how the power comes, one thing is certain: these data centres will require a heavy amount of High Bandwidth Memory (HBMs), basically storage devices, but not similar to something that we, the layman, would use.

As Ananya shares, “While there are many brands that assemble RAM, the core components (memory chips) are supplied by only a handful of companies: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. Their production lines and capacities are strictly limited.”

This oligopolistic nature of the industry means that the few production companies are all busy grabbing large-figure contracts and ramping up production of HBMs while discarding consumer RAMs and SSDs that we would use.

One might ask then, what’s the problem? Can’t they just get back to producing consumer storage devices again?

No. Complex production processes containing highly specified machinery cannot be just rerouted to produce something different at a moment’s notice.

Whenever the higher-ups made the call to focus on data centres, they did so knowing that the demand for HBMs would not be simmering down anytime soon. Thus, they fully concentrated their production capabilities towards the big guns, sacrificing consumer needs in the process.

“The current price hike is driven by the fear that RAM may soon vanish from the market with no new supply in sight. SSD prices have risen similarly for largely the same reasons,” shared Ananya.

The solution

Students, and especially young professionals such as Mahi, are being hit the hardest. A standard DDR5 8GB (5200–5600MHz) RAM, which could have been bought at a price of Tk 4,500, is now in the range of Tk 10,000.

This is beyond the affordability range of most budget PC users, and even more damaging for Mahi, who is now at an impasse. Should he compromise by getting a lower specification PC, or should he spend an amount that is double his budget?

Whatever the decision may be, he is in a lose-lose situation. Spending more and buying a workable PC would mean breaking the bank and facing a plethora of personal financial hardships. On the other hand, compromising now would mean being stuck with lower-grade specifications that will inevitably hamper the quality of his work.

Ananya advised us to be on the cautious side of things. “Students should exercise extreme caution when planning a mid-range build. Given the exorbitant costs of RAM and storage, it is best to avoid overspending on other components.”

When asked about what is possible within a budget of Tk 30,000–50,000, he candidly added, “It is not feasible to include a dedicated graphics card in this range.” According to him, the top choices remain:

A Ryzen 5 3400G processor paired with a Tk 7,000–8,000 motherboard, 256GB storage, and 8GB RAM. If one hopes to increase the budget to Tk 45,000, the Ryzen 5 5600G or 5600GT would be the ideal processor. Even here, one should not spend more than Tk 8,000–8,500 on the motherboard. Moreover, a Tk 55,000 budget will get you the Ryzen 7 5700G.

“Even at Tk 60,000, building with a dedicated graphics card is difficult. However, PCB Store recently offered a special build for Tk 59,000 featuring a 6GB GDDR6 graphics card,” shared Ananya.

However, Ananya Zaman did not only share bad news. “PCB Store offers low-budget builds every month specifically for students. We provide the best deals with maximum discounts for builds ranging from Tk 50,000 to Tk 1 lakh. Additionally, PCB Store organises special offers to celebrate with students when HSC and SSC exam results are published.”

So, if you have the patience, keep an eye out for special discounts and offers, not only from the PCB Store but wherever you find them, because the market may not calm down anytime soon.