If you are an IT leader or procurement manager, you have likely noticed the warning signs. Quotes are expiring faster, delivery lead times are drifting, and the price per unit for enterprise laptops is ticking upward with every passing week.
We are currently facing a global memory shortage that is fundamentally different from the cyclical supply chain hiccups of the past. For enterprise buyers, this is creating a “perfect storm” in 2026. Just as your organization prepares for the transition to AI-ready PCs, the component market is tightening drastically.
At Ample for Enterprise, we are closely monitoring how this shift affects the device fleet management for organizations. Here is what is driving the shortage and, more importantly, how it impacts your hardware roadmap.
The "Zero-Sum" Game of Silicon
The root cause of this disruption is a strategic reallocation of manufacturing capacity. The major memory manufacturers (Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron) have pivoted their production lines to support the massive AI infrastructure build-out by hyperscalers like Microsoft and Google.
Cleanroom space is finite. Every silicon wafer allocated to High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for an AI server is a wafer denied to standard DDR5 memory for a business laptop. This has created a severe supply/demand imbalance for the general-purpose components that power your employee workstations.
The Three Risks to Your 2026 Budget
This shortage creates three specific friction points for enterprise IT departments:
1. The 15-20% Price Hike
Major PC vendors including Lenovo, Dell, and HP have already signaled cost pressures. While the first half of 2026, we already see prices hiked by 10-20% by most OEMs, industry analysis suggests we could see further contract resets and additional price hikes between 15% to 20% heading into the second half of 2026. If you budget based on 2024 or early 2025 pricing, you may face significant overages.
2. The AI PC Paradox
The industry is pushing “AI PCs” equipped with NPUs to handle local AI workloads. Crucially, these devices are memory-hungry. Microsoft’s Copilot+ standard requires a minimum of 16GB of RAM, with 32GB becoming the recommended standard for power users. You are being asked to buy machines with more memory at the exact moment that memory is becoming historically expensive and scarce.
3. The Inventory Squeeze
In a shortage, large OEMs prioritise their biggest clients, but even they face constraints. Smaller “white box” vendors or regional suppliers will likely suffer the most, potentially facing stockouts. This makes reliance on a resilient, top-tier supply chain partner critical.
How to Navigate the Shortage
The days of just-in-time procurement for endpoints may be over for the medium term. Here is how we recommend adjusting your strategy:
Accelerate Your device refresh and buying cycle: Do not wait until late 2026. The influx of AI PCs from OEMs with tightening memory supply will likely result in severe stock shortages in Q3 and Q4.
Don’t Compromise on RAM: It might be tempting to save budget by sticking to 8GB or 16GB models. However, with the rise of local AI models, under-speccing RAM now will significantly shorten the useful lifespan of the device. It is better to pay the premium now than to replace the device in two years.
Leverage Scale: During shortages, allocation is king. Vendor market share will shift in favor of the largest players who have secured inventory 12 to 24 months in advance. Hence, having a strategic partner like Ample will help businesses like yours.
The Ample Advantage
In a volatile market, visibility is your most valuable asset. At Ample for Enterprise, we work to insulate our clients from market shocks by forecasting inventory needs and locking in supply with top-tier OEMs before price hikes take effect.
The 2026 hardware landscape will be defined by scarcity, but with the right planning, it does not have to disrupt your business continuity. Talk to us at Ample to secure your pricing and inventory today.
