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Speaker 1: Andrew dickens, all right, it is nearly ten out of

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Speaker 1: four and consumers are being worn. The phones and computers

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Speaker 1: are set to get a whole lot more expensive. That's

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Speaker 1: because of the rise and rise of AI. It's creating

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Speaker 1: a shortage of computer chips. The price of computer parts

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Speaker 1: like rams have also skyrocketed. You should see the size

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Speaker 1: of these data centers they are building and how much

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Speaker 1: kittens needed. Some products are now costing twice as much

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Speaker 1: now compared to last year. So Gorilla Tech CEO and

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Speaker 1: tech commentator Paul Spain joins the now.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Paul, Hey Andrew.

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Speaker 1: So, chips and RAM, all of all this stuff are

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Speaker 1: in every phone and computer. We can't do without the name.

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Speaker 2: No, that's right.

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Speaker 3: You know when we look at when we look at

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Speaker 3: a computer or we look at a phone, you know

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Speaker 3: you've got the key components as your your process or

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Speaker 3: your central processing unit, which is effectively the brain.

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Speaker 2: Then you've got the RAM or the sort.

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Speaker 3: Of core core memory there which I guess in our

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Speaker 3: minds as would also be part of our brain.

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Speaker 2: And then you've got the longer, longer term storage.

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Speaker 3: And the bit that's really skyrocketing is the RAM and

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Speaker 3: we're seeing even here in New Zealand right now, some

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Speaker 3: RAM has tripled in price, others, as you know, at

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Speaker 3: least twice.

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Speaker 2: You know what it was six months ago.

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Speaker 1: Gamers are freaking out, and so why are they getting

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Speaker 1: so expensive so quickly? Is this pure supply and demand?

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Speaker 1: Because AI don't need so many chips in RAM.

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Speaker 2: It is very much a supply and demand issue.

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Speaker 3: There's only so much you know, production capability on the planet.

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Speaker 3: And what we're seeing is where these chips are fabricated,

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Speaker 3: they are diverting their production away from the RAM that's

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Speaker 3: used in our consumer devices to the high bandwidth memory

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Speaker 3: that is being used in the AI data centers.

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Speaker 1: So what devices in tech will be affected the most?

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Speaker 3: Look, I think you know at the moment probably though

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Speaker 3: those being impacted are more your gamers or those building

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Speaker 3: a custom computer. If you want to avoid the impact

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Speaker 3: of this, then buying a full blown computer or smartphone

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Speaker 3: now that the manufacturer has already put the memory in

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Speaker 3: and has already set the price in with some of

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Speaker 3: those that the prices may not move as much in

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Speaker 3: the in the shorter term, and brands like Apple tend

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Speaker 3: to have their prices fluctuate much less than, for.

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Speaker 2: Instance, a custom built computer.

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Speaker 3: But you know, I would be I'd be wary if

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Speaker 3: you're thinking about that from a personal purchase perspective of

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Speaker 3: sitting around too long.

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Speaker 1: Meanwhile, data centers two up an awful lot of power

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Speaker 1: and that's affecting power prices because so many data centers

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Speaker 1: are being being built. We've heard now the Google's bought

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Speaker 1: a nuclear power plant because they need the power to

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Speaker 1: do to run an AI data center. The question is

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Speaker 1: the AI bubble is it going to burst? And if

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Speaker 1: it does burst, would you then expect the price to

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Speaker 1: come back down? And would you possibly expect an entire

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Speaker 1: market meltdown?

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Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure about the

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Speaker 3: entire market meltdown. But look the the investment into new

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Speaker 3: data centers for AI that would likely fall you know,

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Speaker 3: or reduce if we see, you know, a big impact

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Speaker 3: on the on the share market with the AI stocks.

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Speaker 3: You know, we look at Microsoft, you know who roughly

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Speaker 3: you know, doubled in in their value, the share price

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Speaker 3: you know, over the last you know, say three three years.

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Speaker 2: If they were to fall back to.

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Speaker 3: Those kind of pre uh you know, AI boom prices,

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Speaker 3: then I would imagine they would be you know, they'd

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Speaker 3: be completely stopping, you know, most of their investments into

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Speaker 3: AI data centers.

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Speaker 2: Though though to a degree, we you know, we.

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Speaker 3: Have been told that a lot of these bigger players

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Speaker 3: have you know, have reduced some of their their data

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Speaker 3: center investments.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, certainly on the on the AI front, you

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Speaker 2: know that.

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Speaker 3: These investments do do do do continue to to a

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Speaker 3: fair degree.

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Speaker 1: Fascinating times and I thank you so much. Paul Spain,

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Speaker 1: Gorilla Tech CEO.

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Speaker 2: Yes A for more info about broadcast. For more from

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Speaker 2: Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks.

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