Retail traders pile into memory chipmakers as AI boom squeezes supplies, lifts prices

Retail investors ramped up buying of U.S. memory and data storage chipmakers in January, following 2025's strong momentum on expectations ​that booming artificial intelligence infrastructure demand will tighten supply and lift prices. An acute ‌global shortage of memory chips is forcing AI and consumer-electronics companies to fight for dwindling supplies, which is ‌expected to support a multi-year backlog for memory chip makers. Samsung's co-CEO TM Roh described the memory chip shortage as "unprecedented" in an interview with Reuters earlier this month, echoing rivals who have warned that constraints could persist for months, if not years, as the AI infrastructure race continues to ⁠hog supplies.