The Hidden Bill
AI doubled memory prices and stole Bitcoin miners
Robert K. Merton wrote in his 1948 article that actions taken by individuals and organizations in society often lead to unexpected and sometimes unwanted results. These results can be completely different from the planned goals, or even the opposite. In the age of artificial intelligence, we are starting to see these kinds of unexpected results more often.
Yes, artificial intelligence is close to taking our jobs. We need to find different jobs now. You have probably read this many times. This time, we are starting to see its effects in different areas. These effects, which almost nobody thought about, are ready to change our lives.
The Memory Crisis
There are very few companies in the world that produce RAM and SSD disk modules for computers. Three companies make 90% of all RAM and SSD memory production. Until recently, the memory market was quite predictable. Supply and demand were easy to follow and matched each other. New investments in this area were made with long-term plans. Until artificial intelligence changed everything. Artificial intelligence and data centers changed the memory market in a way that threw all plans in the trash.
All three big producers now give priority to making memory modules for artificial intelligence and servers. These three producers (Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron) think that making memory for AI servers is more profitable. At the same time, they cannot predict exactly where this huge growth will end, so they are not in a hurry to invest in new factories.
The final blow to the memory market came from Micron. In its official announcement on December 3, 2025, the company decided to exit the consumer market with the Crucial brand, which makes RAM and SSD disks for computers that we all use. According to the companyâs statement, âAI-driven data center growth has led to a huge increase in memory and storage demandâ and Micron made this decision âto increase supply and support for larger, strategic customers.â In other words, it will focus all its production on servers.
As a result of all these developments, the prices of memory modules that consumers buy increased by 171% in the last year. This is a truly incredible price increase. In fact, DRAM prices have increased so much that they have even left behind the increase in gold prices. Especially people who buy these parts and put them together in what we call custom-built computers have already started to feel this increase. Even though it is not felt as much in ready-made systems, meaning laptops and desktop computers, because of bulk orders, we will see these increases very clearly in 2027 and 2028. Big players like HP and Dell have already started to warn about this.
While AI companies are making big investments to train their own models, the hardware needs of cloud server companies running these models have reached incredible levels. The lack of capacity to meet these needs quickly is causing us to buy more expensive products. In other words, artificial intelligence will cause us to pay higher prices for electronic products like computers and phones that everyone must have now. Just like with high-end graphics cards. Who could have known?
Should We Sell Our Bitcoins?
We have read in different articles before that artificial intelligence could bring the end of Bitcoin. It was already being written that AI and quantum computers could solve hash operations that take time to solve faster, and this could bring the end of Bitcoin. Before we even reached this stage, a completely different development happened.
You have probably heard of Bitcoin mining. It was quite popular once. Actually, it is still popular. If you have made this investment on a scale that can afford expensive electricity and chip costs, you still have significant returns. Of course, I am excluding the miners working with illegal electricity that appeared in our country. They have almost no expenses anyway. We say mining, but what these people actually do is check the accuracy of transactions in the Bitcoin network and give approval. The Bitcoin network, which is a decentralized system, needs these miners/validators. They are the backbone of the system. If they donât exist, we cannot buy and sell Bitcoin either.
By design of the Bitcoin network, these miners receive Bitcoin rewards for the work they do. And these rewards are decreasing day by day. This is a requirement of the design. Because of the decrease in Bitcoin prices and the decreasing rewards, companies that do mining as a business have started to leave this business. Guess what they do now? Yes, you guessed right. They started renting their infrastructure to artificial intelligence companies. In the last 18 months, at least eight major mining companies in the US, such as Bitfarms, Core Scientific, Riot, IREN, TeraWulf, CleanSpark, Bit Digital, MARA Holdings and Cipher Mining, have announced plans to transition partially or completely to AI. Both sides are happy. Miners earn more money, and AI companies can quickly use the installed computing power.
Analysts say that this transition in industrial-scale miners could cause different damages to the strength of the Bitcoin network in the long term. Both the risk of a 51% attack increases in technical terms, and there is a possibility of concentration in countries that can do this mining business even at a loss. For example, China, El Salvador. In this case, the Bitcoins in our wallets could suddenly disappear.
A 51% attack occurs when more than 51% of the total computing power or validation authority on the Bitcoin network comes under the control of a group or organization. This allows the attacker to make important changes to the network. For example, they can change the order of transactions, prevent some transactions from being approved, or perform double spending. In other words, when the control of the majority is gathered in malicious people, the Bitcoin network is completely in danger.
The Butterfly
Every step we take for development results in us living and consuming everything faster. We are experiencing incredible events like a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon rainforest causing a storm in the USA. And unfortunately, the impact of artificial intelligence is much bigger than a tiny butterfly flapping its wings.
See you in the next article...
Sources
Micron Technology. âMicron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Businessâ. https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business
Klotz, A. âDRAM prices surge 171% year-over-yearâ. Tomâs Hardware. https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/dram-prices-surge-171-percent-year-over-year-ai-demand-drives-a-higher-yoy-price-increase-than-gold
Del Rey, J. âAmericaâs Biggest Bitcoin Miners Are Pivoting to AIâ. Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-miners-pivot-ai-data-centers/