[Rumor] RAMmageddon 2026 How the AI Boom is Forcing Sony to Delay the PS6.
A recent report by Bloomberg suggests that Sony is drastically rethinking its timeline for the PlayStation 6. Originally anticipated for a 2027 debut, the next-generation console may now be delayed until late 2028 or even 2029. The culprit? A catastrophic imbalance in the semiconductor supply chain known as "RAMmageddon"
AI Giants vs. Gaming Hardware
The delay isn't due to a lack of innovation at Sony, but rather a war over resources. AI behemoths like Alphabet (Google) and Amazon are funneling hundreds of billions into AI data centers, creating an insatiable demand for memory chips.
Faced with this demand, memory giants Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have pivoted their production lines to HBM (High-Bandwidth Memory) for AI processing, which offers significantly higher profit margins than the standard DRAM used in gaming consoles.
The $1,000 Console Nightmare
The financial implications are staggering. DRAM prices surged by 75% between December 2025 and January 2026 alone. If Sony were to force a 2027 launch, the soaring cost of RAM would likely push the PS6’s retail price beyond the $1,000 mark a price point deemed "unmarketable" for the general gaming public.
Collateral Damage Across the Tech Sector
The 2026 memory crisis is rippling through the entire industry:
Nintendo: Rumors suggest a potential price hike for their current hardware late this year just to maintain margins.
Android Smartphones: Budget and mid-range manufacturers are cutting shipment targets as the cost of RAM threatens to make low-cost devices unprofitable.
"Forcing a 2027 launch amidst this crisis would be a disaster for everyone," says renowned gaming journalist Jason Schreier. He notes that delaying until 2028-2029 allows RAM prices to stabilize, ensuring Sony can deliver flagship specs such as the rumored 30GB of GDDR7 RAM at a price consumers can actually afford.
The real problem is that semiconductor manufacturing plants (fabs) have limited space. As AI chips (Nvidia/AMD) take over production space, consumer memory chips are squeezed to the brink of collapse, resulting in the most severe "supply squeeze" in a decade.
Although the PS6 uses GDDR (Graphics DDR) RAM, unlike the HBM used by AI, both utilize the same wafers and manufacturing materials. As the demand for HBM increases, the cost of all upstream materials skyrockets.
Analysts predict significant growth in the refurbished console and PC upgrade markets in 2026-2027, as consumers struggle to afford the higher costs of new consoles.
The delayed launch may be technically beneficial, giving Sony more time to develop a higher-performance custom AI upscaling chip (similar to the PSSR in the Pro model) to reduce the massive RAM usage required for running 8K graphics or path tracing.
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Sources: Bloomberg
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