The paper clip problem always seemed too absurd to me. Also known as the paper clip maximizer, this is the thought experiment by philosopher Nick Bostrom that imagines how a superintelligent AI with the goal of maximizing paper clip production could end up destroying the world by directing all available resources to making paper clips.

While it would be irresponsible to say this is happening, we are starting to run low on some resources. And it’s about to affect your life.

You may have heard about the global memory shortage caused, in part, by the rapid buildout of AI data centers. Just as they need semiconductors for data processing and water for cooling, these facilities need memory, or RAM, for short- and long-term data storage. Pretty much all consumer electronics, from desktop computers to smartphones, also require memory to run. The problem is that just three companies — Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung Electronics — make almost all of the memory on the market. They can’t make it fast enough right now, and it’s unclear when they’ll be able to catch up with demand.

Normally the shortage of a computer component wouldn’t lead me to reference a thought experiment about the apocalypse, but here we are. Memory is a really important component, and as the AI data center boom sucks up more and more resources, not having enough of it means that virtually every gadget with a chip in........

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