The gaming world is on the brink as three leading memory manufacturers - Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron - have allegedly sold out their entire 2027 memory manufacturing capacity to AI companies. According to reports from Digitimes, spotted by TweakTown, this means no further DRAM or HBM supply for the upcoming year. While the manufacturers themselves have not confirmed these claims, it's clear that this move will escalate retail prices even further. The situation is particularly dire because many of the companies buying up this capacity have done so through long-term purchasing agreements, essentially pre-ordering memory over a five-year term before it's even manufactured. With no additional capacity in sight, it's tough to envision RAM becoming more affordable or abundant anytime soon. The issue doesn't stop at memory; NAND storage is also seeing increased demand, although it hasn't been entirely absorbed due to multiple suppliers. However, the growing scarcity of NAND manufacturing capacity suggests that SSD prices will continue their upward trend. For instance, the Western Digital SN7100, a common PCIe 4 drive, has seen a 52% price increase since January, rising from $110 to $189. If NAND manufacturing capacity becomes as scarce as RAM, we can only imagine how much that drive will cost next year. The RAM crisis is evident across the hardware industry, with recent examples like the price hike of the Xbox Series X and the Steam Machine launching at a higher price than intended due to the higher cost of memory. At this point, all I can say is pray for the AI bubble to burst so I can score a decent RAM kit for less than $500 once more! Jackie Thomas, Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN, shares her insights on the PC components market through her Twitter handle @Jackiecobra.