Altman Says PC Memory Remarks Were Taken Out of Context as RAM Shortage Persists

Altman changed his display name on X to "Ram Altman" and wrote that he does "want the world to have tons of memory and people to put as much as they want in their computers". He said the earlier comments had been taken out of context and that "i have been arguing for the world to ramp up memory production for a long time." IGN and NDTV also reported the posts.

The backlash followed Altman's appearance on the Cheeky Pint podcast. There he said that "it's quite terrible to have everybody have a bunch of the world's limited supply of DRAM sitting in their own computer and being used five percent of the time." Many people read the remark as saying consumer devices should give way to AI data centres in the competition for memory chips.

The comments hit a nerve because of conditions in the memory market. According to The Verge, AI data centres have been buying up much of the world's RAM supply, which has caused shortages and pushed up prices for consumer technology. The Verge said Intel expects the shortage to last through at least next year, and SK Hynix has predicted it could continue until 2030.

The argument shows a tension that matters to device makers, PC buyers and corporate IT budgets. OpenAI is one of the largest buyers of computing capacity in the industry. Its plans compete directly with consumer electronics for the same limited output of DRAM and high-bandwidth memory. Altman's clarification moves his message from rationing memory towards expanding production, which would mean more capital spending by memory makers such as SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron.

Altman did not say in the posts reported whether OpenAI is taking any specific steps to support more memory production.