The artificial intelligence explosion has unexpected victims: Steam Deck, PS6, and Switch 2
The European tech landscape is experiencing significant shifts, with the burgeoning artificial intelligence sector directly impacting the availability and pricing of consumer electronics. This dynamic is creating unexpected challenges for established hardware manufacturers and potentially altering future product roadmaps across the continent. The increased demand for high-performance components, particularly DRAM chips, is a key driver of these changes. The most immediate consequence is felt in the gaming hardware market. Valve has already seen its Steam Deck become unavailable in the US and Canada due to memory chip shortages, with fears of price increases and stock disruptions looming for European markets. This scarcity is directly attributed to the immense demand for DRAM from data centers supporting AI development and deployment. This global component crunch extends beyond handheld gaming devices. Industry speculation suggests that the next generation of consoles, including the PlayStation 6 and Nintendo Switch 2, could face delays or increased production costs. The escalating demand for AI-specific hardware is reallocating critical resources, forcing a re-evaluation of production schedules and pricing strategies for a wide range of digital products.
Curated and translated by Europe Digital for our multilingual European audience.
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