A severe, industry-wide memory shortage is accelerating faster than expected, with NAND flash, DRAM, HBM, HDD components, and even mature-node chip production tightening across the board. For filmmakers, this developing crisis reaches far beyond consumer PC upgrades. It affects camera media, on-set storage, post-production machines, and potentially even camera release timelines. A warning from a camera card manufacturer to CineD about NAND scarcity now aligns with the picture painted across multiple industry reports. Memory suppliers, system integrators, and foundries all describe a tightening market as 2025 ends. Silicon Motion CEO Wallace C. Kou described the situation as something the industry has not seen before, noting that HDD, DRAM, HBM and NAND are all heading into severe shortage during 2026 and that most capacity is already sold out. His comments are echoed by major manufacturers worldwide. As the AI server boom continues, hyperscalers are absorbing enormous quantities of memory. The shift deeply affects every other segment, including photography and cinema. Trends that once seemed unrelated to filmmaking now have a direct impact on how productions store, edit, and safeguard media. SSDs are set to become more expensive alongside most other types of media. Image credit: Pexels Why the shortage is happening The current supply squeeze is primarily driven by aggressive AI infrastructure expansion. High Bandwidth Memory, which is essential for modern AI accelerators, consumes more wafers and manufacturing resources than standard DRAM, leaving fewer resources available for consumer memory. Manufacturers are prioritizing these high margin server components because AI companies are...
Published By: CineD - Today