Sam Altman Says Personal Computer RAM Ownership is “Terrible”

WHO:

NY Post - OpenAI boss Sam Altman was criticized online after remarks about ordinary people using computer memory.

IGN - OpenAI CEO Sam Altman discussed global computing-supply problems in an interview with YouTuber Cheeky Pint.

IGN - Nvidia, Samsung, and OpenAI are mentioned in connection with graphics hardware, memory supply, and AI data centers.

WHAT:

NY Post - Altman said it was “quite terrible” that ordinary people use the world’s limited supply of computer memory instead of putting it to better use in the cloud.

IGN - Altman said: “From a global allocation perspective, actually, 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 maybe 5% of the time. Like, you want maximum utilization in the cloud if you're trying to deal with this very supply constrained environment. And somehow many people's intuition is the opposite of that.”

IGN - Altman said the market’s “invisible hand” was failing, in part because DRAM wafers were not all going to data centers to run AI models.

IGN - The article says the AI boom-related memory shortage is driving up costs, and that RAM is used in nearly every kind of consumer-electronics product.

IGN - Used PS5 Pros reached $1,399, and the console had received an official price increase.

IGN - The RTX 5080 disappeared from Nvidia’s marketplace; the RTX 5090 was described as “all but discontinued.”

IGN - Samsung’s latest earnings call was cited as indicating that memory was being directed toward AI companies and that the RAM situation would not improve the following year.

WHERE:

IGN - Altman discussed memory allocation between personal computers and cloud data centers.

WHY:

IGN - Altman argued that concentrating memory in the cloud would maximize utilization during a supply-constrained period.

IGN - The article says OpenAI benefits from more hyperscaler data centers being available to run its large AI models.

IGN - The article links consumer-hardware price increases and shortages to the RAM shortage.

HOW:

IGN - Altman described personal-computer DRAM as potentially being used “maybe 5% of the time,” contrasting it with cloud utilization.

IGN - The article says memory is being funneled to AI companies and installed in data centers.

(UPDATED October 31, 2026 05:00 UTC)

OpenAI chief Sam Altman faced backlash after calling personal computer memory use “quite terrible.” He argued scarce memory should be concentrated in cloud data centers for better utilization. The AI-driven shortage is raising consumer hardware costs, while Samsung says supply may remain tight.