AI’s memory crunch just made Amazon devices more expensive

Amazon has raised prices across several of its consumer electronics. This comes amid soaring memory-chip costs that put pressure on the company’s hardware business. Echo speakers, Fire TV devices, Kindle e-readers and eero routers are among the products affected. Some prices are rising by as much as 60%.

The increases show how the AI boom is starting to hit consumers. Cloud companies and data-center operators are locking up more memory chips for AI infrastructure. This is leading to a supply crunch, and component costs are rising. Amazon is now passing at least part of that increase on to customers. The Kindle’s 16 GB price is reportedly rising by $40 to $149.99. However, the basic Echo Dot is expected to see a jump from $49.99 to $79.99.

Prices moved overnight, with Echo Dot up 60%

A report states that the sudden price increases affected streaming sticks, e-readers, smart speakers, and home networking equipment. Amazon’s basic Echo Dot is one of the clearest examples of this trend, going from $49.99 to $79.99 in an overnight price increase of $30, or 60%. Amazon claims that this was due to the “significant increases” in memory-component prices.

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