Dell CEO Michael Dell says the global shortage of memory chips used in AI servers is going to get worse before it gets better, with supply constraints expected to persist through next year and beyond. The warning comes even as Dell sits on a record $95 billion backlog of back-ordered enterprise and AI server orders, meaning the company’s biggest growth driver and its biggest headache are the same component.
For American consumers and businesses, this matters because AI servers depend on HBM chips paired with GPUs to deliver the performance needed for AI inference. As that memory stays scarce, prices for flagship server hardware rise too, which can ripple into the cost of cloud computing and AI services that U.S. companies rely on. It’s a similar dynamic to what’s playing out elsewhere in tech hardware, as seen when Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs S25 FE: Explaining the $50 Price Increase explained how component costs are pushing up prices on consumer devices.
How Dell is managing the squeeze
To avoid overcommitting cash while chips remain scarce, Dell is running a lean inventory model — buying DRAM only when it’s ready to assemble final systems, rather than stockpiling early. The company has also locked in long-term supply agreements and taken upfront capital commitments from customers to reserve memory capacity, a strategy similar to ones used by Samsung and SK Hynix to protect against sudden price swings.
المصدر: Wccftech
