RAM costs are hovering. Framework could not survive it

If you’d like an ongoing tally of how dangerous the “AI” bubble is for shoppers, all it is advisable to do is take a look at RAM costs. Laptops, sport consoles, and cell telephones are going up, too, however seeing a RAM DIMM that’s 500 p.c dearer than a 12 months in the past is an actual shock to the system—and no firm has felt this extra keenly than Framework, who’s just one step above shoppers within the provide chain.

Framework is a darling of the tech press, a favourite amongst right-to-repair fans and those that desire a laptop computer that may final theoretically endlessly. The corporate was already reeling from the Trump administration’s tariffs in 2025, and now issues have gone from dangerous to worse.

RAM and storage costs will be seen going up on the configuration pages for Framework’s laptop computer designs. With out the deep relationships with {hardware} suppliers that solely billions of {dollars} in orders can purchase, Framework has needed to regulate its costs as its provide dwindles, even limiting secondary gross sales to forestall scalpers from shopping for up components meant to improve buyer laptops.

The hazard right here is actual. Framework is a comparatively small, US-based system builder. Whereas it’s doing a little wonderful work (its 13-inch laptop computer is one in every of our favourite suggestions), its dimension and market specialization make it susceptible. Framework can’t, for instance, repurpose an internally developed smartphone chip to leverage an reasonably priced laptop computer design. It has to climate the tides of the market and hope that its prospects—who’re primarily on the lookout for worth—hold coming again.

That is all preamble to Framework’s newest weblog put up from CEO Nirav Patel, ostensibly saying a promotional coming in a few weeks. But it surely reads extra like a dire warning. On the state of the tech world looking for endless revenue within the “AI” bubble, Patel writes: “There’s a very actual state of affairs by which private computing as we all know it’s useless… The trade is asking you to personal nothing and be glad.”

As if studying the room, the put up continues with a defiant tone: “You is likely to be studying all of this and considering, is that this a farewell letter to non-public computing? Is that this the top of Framework? No, this can be a manifesto.” Patel guarantees that “so long as there’s a individual on the planet who nonetheless desires to personal their technique of computation, we might be right here to construct the {hardware} that allows it.”

IDG / Matthew Smith

The put up then goes on to announce the following dwell promotional occasion, a San Francisco presentation on April twenty first at 10:30 AM US Pacific time, which might be live-streamed on YouTube. Additionally, Framework is now promoting to New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and Singapore. Framework shouldn’t be going gently into that good night time. No less than not but.

I can’t assist however fear. Framework was using excessive final 12 months, because it introduced its first 2-in-1 laptop computer design that was additionally a finances laptop computer, a brand new mini-PC based mostly on highly effective AMD {hardware}, and a few much-needed updates to its 16-inch laptop computer with a discrete GPU choice. Then the Trump tariffs hit. These have now been declared unlawful by the US Supreme Court docket, however the injury is completed.

And now laptops, desktops, and virtually all the things else are getting prohibitively costly for many patrons, on the identical time that world tensions are making the worth of oil and meals go up. These are macroeconomic issues that everybody has to fret about, in fact… however for a small firm that’s attempting to carry again the tide of “AI”, they’re quick and private. Buyers are all of the sudden re-evaluating whether or not they actually want a brand new laptop computer this 12 months, and in the event that they do, perhaps a $600 MacBook is the way in which to go fairly than an admirable however costly Framework laptop computer that may be infinitely upgraded.

Checking Framework’s website at this time, the most cost effective full Laptop computer 13 you’ll be able to construct with simply 8GB of RAM and a years-old CPU is over $1,200. The Laptop computer 12, maybe a extra truthful comparability, continues to be over $950 with Home windows 11 House. As a tech fan and somebody who loves what Framework has been doing, I feel it’s price the additional expense. However as somebody who has to replenish a fuel tank a few occasions a month? I can’t blame anybody for going with the cheaper choice.

Foundry

Framework’s defiant tone is encouraging. The intention is clearly a rallying cry, Aragorn dealing with down the armies of Mordor, Cap standing as much as Thanos. However that is actual life, not a blockbuster. Framework and different small {hardware} producers can’t depend on plot armor to save lots of them. A real win right here could be nothing lower than the collapse of the “AI” funding bubble, a sudden reversal of a year-long development that’s projected to final till the top of the last decade.

How possible is that? Nicely, it’s not unimaginable. OpenAI shut down its Sora video technology device because it buckled beneath the unprofitable weight of thousands and thousands of slop movies. Information middle development, the fireplace which is burning up RAM and storage future provide, seems to be slowing as traders get cautious and locals struggle again towards rising energy payments and environmental influence. There’s even some anecdotal proof that RAM costs could have peaked, as some remoted markets are seeing the primary indicators of changes, if not a return to sanity.

However I nonetheless fear. Even when the “AI” bubble pops proper now, it’ll take months not less than for {hardware} costs to right themselves, presumably for much longer. And that’s assuming the whole economic system doesn’t go right into a recession or despair from the fallout. In such a state of affairs, it’s arduous to think about Framework surviving. I can’t assist however surprise if I’m writing up a preliminary eulogy for my favourite laptop computer maker.

That will be a real tragedy for PC {hardware} fans… however hardly their major concern. You want a spot to dwell and one thing to eat much more than you want an upgradeable laptop computer.