The ongoing RAM chip shortage has claimed another victim: Microsoft’s Surface PC lineup. Microsoft quietly increased the prices of all available Surface computers on the Microsoft Store, and those price changes are expected to be reflected in retail stores in the near future.
“Due to recent increases in memory and component costs, Surface is updating prices on Microsoft.com for its current-generation hardware portfolio,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNET in an email. “We remain committed to delivering value to customers and partners while upholding our standards for quality and innovation.”
The price increases range in severity depending on the model, but max out at around $500 for the flagship and several midrange models. As Windows Central pointed out, this means that the midrange Surface devices are now more expensive than the flagship models were two years ago at launch.
The current starting prices on the Microsoft Store are as follows:
- Surface Laptop 15-inch: $1,600
- Surface Laptop 13.8-inch: $1,500
- Surface Laptop 13-inch: $1,150
- Surface Pro 12-inch: $1,050
- Surface Pro 13-inch: $1,500
That places the Surface and Surface Pro laptops above the prices of some of the best laptops from companies like Apple, Acer and HP.
The memory shortage shows no end in sight
Microsoft isn’t the only tech giant feeling the squeeze this week as AI data centers continue to swallow up as much of the available RAM chips as are humanly available.
Samsung also raised prices on some of its phones and tablets by as much as $280 on Tuesday. Apple had several RAM and storage-intensive product configurations listed as sold out as of Monday.
The even more unfortunate news is that prices are likely to increase and stay up. The RAM demand from AI data centers is sky-high and shows no signs of slowing down. So much so that Micron, one of the largest memory suppliers, shuttered its consumer-focused Crucial brand to produce more RAM for AI data centers.
Other major memory suppliers like Samsung and SK Hynix are feeling the pressure as well, with the latter company’s chairman proclaiming that the memory chip shortage will likely last through the end of the decade at least.