I have seen memes about gaming hardware getting more expensive but I ignore them because that kind of thing has always been beyond my reach. The difference between a $2k PC and a $3k PC is moot because I would never have either.
But recently I wanted to upgrade my storage from 500gb to 1 tb. The prices are insane!! In 2024 when I bought 500gb nvme it was CAD$50. A comparable SATA was close to the same price. Now the exact same item is $130.
1tb is now $200-600 on amazon. Am I searching wrong?!
5 years ago I bought a 8tb external HDD for $170 and now the same one is almost $700. It looks like you can get 8tb as “cheap” as $400 but I’m not sure if they are the same quality.
Is this because of donald trump and/or AI?
Is it going to get better at some point?
How can the world function like this? We are so reliant on storage for everything. Is this price increase reflected in bulk sales to industry?
Its mainly AI and data centres using it all up on someone else’s dime. Trump, tariffs, inflation and supply chains are another part of it, but it’s mainly AI. Give it time. Either the AI data centre splurge will collapse and those will be sold crashing the market, or they won’t and it’s a stable market and production capacity will increase, hopefully bringing prices back down,
I agree with this, and even the CEO of Microsoft said it too, and many others. Its a temporary squeeze. Either when datacenters have plateued naturally or because the bubble pops, or production scales up.
And even if consumer remains small potatoes, it’s still an industry worth billions. Someone will step in to fill it. Someone will see the money on the table and attempt to claim it, it may just be a bit