My understanding is that it's fundamentally a fab capacity limit. At a given node size/technology (think 7nm, etc) they can only output so many wafers. If AI data centers are generating enormous demand for memory, then that's what those wafers are going to be used to for, unless they can be outcompeted, hence higher prices.

I'm not actually sure if enterprise designated memory is equivalent or not to consumer designated. Could be they are the same just packaged differently and/or with better binning. Either way, it's the same supply/demand dynamic at work.

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matt-p a day ago | parent [-]

Typically (not always!) server memory is 'registered' so won't work with consumer CPUs which run on un-registered.

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greggoB 10 hours ago | parent [-]

Does 'registration' introduce anything physically different? Or could they be completely interoperable?

	▲	matt-p 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah a RCD on the memory stick, it's PCB is designed around it. The actual DRAM chips themselves are not different though, which is why I mention it would be super easy to produce more consumer unregistered and less server registered at assembly time :)