Memory chip shortages worldwide will present mobile operators with difficult choices in 2026

A global shortage of NAND and RAM memory chips will present mobile operators with some difficult decisions in 2026. This shortage has driven global supply constraints, which has led to prices in some segments doubling over the past 12 months. There are no indications that this shortage will be significantly improve in 2026. This is because of the widescale diversion of chip production and supply to AI infrastructure to meet an unprecedented growth in demand for AI, which comes at the expense of other industries that depend heavily on advanced memories, such as smartphones and PCs.

This article discusses the implications of this crisis for the entire mobile device value chain.