FT has learned about the threat of rising global prices for electronics due to a shortage of microchips

Growing demand for memory chips and chips for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in 2026, global consumer electronics prices will increase by an average of 20%. This was reported on January 1 by the Financial Times (FT) newspaper.

Consumer electronics manufacturers, including Dell, Lenovo, Raspberry Pi and Xiaomi, have warned customers that a shortage of chips will lead to higher costs and force them to raise prices for their products by 5-20%.

According to analysts, the global construction of data centers to support AI models has led to increased demand for high-bandwidth memory chips, which has led manufacturers to focus less on lower-end semiconductors used in consumer electronics.

It is noted that the two largest chip manufacturers Samsung and SK Hynix said that orders for 2026 have already exceeded production capacity. In addition, Citigroup analyst Peter Lee said that the situation with chip stocks will worsen in 2026 and there will definitely be no improvement until 2027.

On December 30 last year, the Reuters news agency reported that the Chinese authorities had introduced a mandatory requirement for 50% use of domestic equipment by chip manufacturers. It was clarified that this rule is not documented, but in recent months, the authorities have informed chip manufacturers that they must prove during tenders that at least half of their equipment will be manufactured in China.

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