Why AI Is Making Your Next Laptop More Expensive (and What to Do About It)

TL;DR – AI data centers are buying up the world's memory and storage, which is pushing up the price of hardware, including the laptops, PCs, and servers your business buys anyway. The fix is a lifecycle plan that tells you what to keep, upgrade, or replace, and when.

You might expect AI to make technology cheaper, or at least faster. Instead, it's making something as ordinary as replacing a worn-out laptop noticeably more expensive.

The cause isn’t some rogue LLM that’s artificially inflating the prices, but the recent boom in enormous AI data centers being built across the country. While they’re proving to be controversial for multiple other reasons, they’re also quietly driving up AI hardware costs for everyone else, including your business. Analysts at Gartner expect memory prices to climb roughly 130% by the end of 2026, which would push the price of a typical business PC up by around 17% compared to 2025 levels.

Before that figure sends you rushing to your procurement portal, here's the reassuring part: this is a planning problem, not necessarily something to panic about. You just need to know it’s coming.

3 key takeaways:

• AI demand is driving up hardware costs. The memory and storage going into AI data centers are the same parts your laptops, PCs, and servers need.
• Prices may stay elevated through 2028. This isn’t a short-term spike you can simply wait out.
• A lifecycle roadmap reduces budget surprises. Planning your refreshes ahead of time keeps rising costs predictable instead of painful.

The Surprising Link

So how does a server farm in another state end up on your company's balance sheet? It comes down to a shortage of the same components your everyday hardware depends on. AI systems run on enormous amounts of memory and storage, the exact chips that also go into laptops, desktops, and business servers. When AI demand spikes, those parts get scarcer and pricier for everyone.

To make matters worse, most of the world’s memory is made by just three companies, and right now they’re prioritizing the data centers willing to pay a premium. That leaves less to go around for everyone else. The result is a global memory and storage shortage that’s already showing up in prices: the cost of memory alone has jumped more than 170% over the past year. When the data centers buy up the supply, the parts in your next machines cost more. That’s the trickle-down.

What It Means in Real Numbers

For business owners, this stops being a supply-chain story and becomes a line item. Memory is eating a bigger share of what a computer costs to build, with Gartner expecting memory to reach 23% of a PC's total component cost in 2026, up from around 16% the year before.

That shift lands directly on business technology costs, and it hits hardest on the machines carrying the most memory: the laptops, workstations, and servers your business runs on.

However, the sticker price only tells half the story. At your next refresh, the squeeze can show up two ways:

• You pay more - The same machine you bought last year now costs noticeably more to buy again.
• Or you get less - As Consumer Reports notes, a $600 laptop in 2026 might look identical to last year's model but ship with 8GB of RAM instead of 16GB.

That's the part that blindsides people at refresh time: they budget for last year's spec at last year's price and find the goalposts have moved on both.

The Smarter Alternative

Rising prices don't have to leave you stuck buying at the top of the market. The smarter move is to try and make the hardware you already own last longer, which is exactly what the analysts expect businesses to do. Gartner expects businesses to keep their PCs around 15% longer because of rising hardware costs.

The difference is whether you do it deliberately or by accident. Blanket replacement throws out good machines alongside the tired ones, while smart hardware lifecycle planning does the opposite: it looks at each device and asks what it actually needs.

• Extend, don't replace: Keep healthy machines supported and covered through warranties rather than swapping them out on a calendar.
• Upgrade what's holding a machine back: Often that's a targeted storage or battery fix, not a whole new unit.
• Retire only what genuinely can't keep up: Time those purchases instead of reacting to a failure.

That's the difference between spending and investing. It's also the difference between buying products and buying an outcome. But knowing which machines to keep, upgrade, or retire, and when, isn't a call you want to make one device at a time. That's where a plan comes in.

Building a Roadmap That Accounts for This

In a stable market, you can afford to react. A machine dies and you replace it at a price roughly the same as the last time. In a shortage market, that approach costs you more every cycle. And this shortage isn't a blip you can wait out: Analysts expect the squeeze to run through 2026 to 2028, and SK Hynix's own CEO says demand will outstrip supply beyond 2030. New memory factories take three to five years to build, so relief is years away, not months.

That's why proactive IT budgeting in 2026 matters more than it did in previous less turbulent years. When prices are climbing and supply is tight, the businesses that plan their refreshes ahead of time buy on their own schedule. The ones that don't get whatever's available, at whatever it costs, at the worst possible moment.

A technology roadmap turns that around. Instead of "When did we last replace these?" you get a rolling, budgeted view of what's coming up, what it will likely cost, and when to act. It ties hardware decisions to your business goals rather than to whichever laptop happens to fail first.

That's also what lets you keep the main thing the main thing: you run your business, and your technology partner watches the market and plans the refreshes so a shortage never turns into a scramble.

This Is a Planning Problem, Not a Panic Problem

So yes, your next laptop, PC, or server will likely cost more, and that isn't changing any time soon. But rising prices only blindside the businesses that aren't looking ahead. With a clear picture of what you own and what's coming up, higher hardware costs become just another line you've already planned for, instead of a nasty surprise at renewal.

That's the conversation to have before your next refresh cycle. If you'd like a second set of eyes on where your hardware stands and what a shortage-proof roadmap looks like for your business, the Elevity team is ready to help. You can find your nearest office and get in touch on the Elevity Contact Information & Locations page, and we'll help you turn your next refresh from a scramble into a plan.

FAQs

Why are laptop and PC prices going up in 2026?
Laptop and PC prices are rising in 2026 mainly because AI data centers are buying up the same memory and storage components that everyday computers rely on. With most of the world's memory made by just three manufacturers, production has shifted toward the high-margin chips AI demands, leaving less supply for consumer and business machines.

Will RAM and memory prices go down in 2026 or 2027?
Most analysts don't expect memory prices to fall in 2026 or 2027. The shortage is forecast to run through 2028, and SK Hynix's CEO expects demand to outstrip supply beyond 2030. Because new memory factories take three to five years to build, relief is likely years away.

Should businesses buy new computers now or wait?
For most businesses, the smartest move is to plan purchases rather than rush or delay. With prices expected to keep climbing through 2028, waiting for a drop is risky, but panic-buying isn't necessary either. A hardware lifecycle plan lets you time refreshes deliberately, extend healthy machines through warranties and targeted upgrades, and replace only what genuinely needs it.

How long should a business keep a laptop before replacing it?
As hardware costs rise, businesses are holding onto computers longer. Gartner expects business PC lifespans to stretch by around 15% by the end of 2026. Rather than replacing on a fixed schedule, the most cost-effective approach is to assess each device on its own merits and retire only what can't keep up, guided by a technology roadmap that ties spending to business need.