RAM Shortages are Coming: What AI Demand Means for CAD/CAM Labs and Clinics

6 days ago

5 min read

If your workstation slows down when a scan imports while a MillBox calculation is running, you already know how much RAM matters.

What’s changing now is not how RAM affects your workflow, but how much it will cost to get the right amount in the near future.

Across the technology industry, RAM prices are rising again, with analysts pointing to continued pressure through 2026. Unlike past cycles driven by consumer PCs or gaming demand, this one is being fueled by artificial intelligence infrastructure consuming memory at an unprecedented scale.

For dental labs that rely on stable, high-performance CAD/CAM workstations, this shift isn’t theoretical. It directly affects upgrade timing, system longevity, and total cost of ownership.

At Level Up CAD/CAM, we build workstations designed to perform reliably for years in real production environments. Understanding what’s happening in the RAM market helps labs make proactive decisions now, before higher costs and tighter supply become unavoidable.

Why RAM Prices Are Increasing

The world’s largest memory manufacturers, including Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron, supply RAM not only for workstations and PCs, but also for AI servers, cloud infrastructure, and GPU accelerators used in machine learning.

Over the past year, companies such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and OpenAI have dramatically expanded AI data centers that require enormous amounts of memory (RAM). According to reporting from Reuters, these hyperscalers are securing RAM through direct, long-term agreements with manufacturers to lock in supply well into 2026.

This shift has a clear downstream effect. A larger share of global memory production is now reserved for enterprise and AI customers, leaving less available for PC-grade and workstation RAM. Analysts at TrendForce report that portions of upcoming memory production are already allocated, and that pricing pressure is expected to continue through 2026, particularly for newer DDR5 modules.

What This Means for Dental CAD/CAM Workstations

In a dental CAD/CAM workflow, RAM is not a background component. It is one of the primary factors determining whether your software runs smoothly or becomes a bottleneck.

Scanning large cases, importing high-resolution STL files, designing full-arch restorations, and calculating complex toolpaths all depend heavily on available memory. When RAM capacity is insufficient, the symptoms are familiar: lag during design, stalled calculations, unreliable multitasking, and software crashes that interrupt production.

A powerful CPU or GPU cannot compensate for a system that runs out of fast or addressable RAM. As memory prices rise, the risk for labs is not just higher upfront cost, but being pushed into lower-capacity configurations or slower frequencies that struggle under real workloads.

RAM Quality directly impacts how high of a frequency they are able to run - so not all 64GB modules will perform the same - though they may be priced differently. With the big performance impact that RAM has on CAD/CAM applications, it’s crucial that you have the highest speed and adequate capacity of memory to accomplish the tasks necessary in a reasonable time.

How This Connects to Real Lab RAM Requirements

In our guide, How Much RAM Do You Really Need for Your CAD/CAM Workstation?, we outlined RAM recommendations based on real dental lab usage rather than theoretical benchmarks.

CAM workflows using MillBox scale quickly in memory demand as cases become more complex. Full-arch restorations, undercuts, multi-axis strategies, and running more than one milling machine all increase the amount of RAM required to calculate toolpaths reliably.

CAD workflows using software like 3Shape or exocad often demand even more memory. High-resolution scans, large mesh files, and designing while scans or background processes are running can push systems to their limits if RAM is undersized.

These recommendations were originally driven by performance and stability. What has changed is the market context. The higher-capacity RAM configurations that allow labs to work efficiently are now the same configurations facing the greatest pricing pressure and supply constraints.

A Real Lab Reality Check

We often hear the same scenario from labs upgrading older systems.

A designer is working on a full-arch case while the next scan is importing in the background. MillBox is calculating a toolpath for another job. Everything works—until RAM usage spikes. The system slows, calculations stall, and sometimes the software crashes altogether.

When that happens once, it’s frustrating. When it happens daily, it affects turnaround times, staff productivity, and confidence in the workflow.

Sufficient RAM doesn’t just improve speed. It prevents these moments entirely.

Why Waiting Until later in 2026 May Cost you More

All Level Up CAD/CAM workstations are designed to be upgradeable. However, history shows that upgrading RAM later becomes more expensive during periods of constrained supply.

Industry analysis from TrendForce and coverage from Tom’s Hardware suggest that memory pricing pressure is unlikely to ease in 2026. Manufacturers are prioritizing enterprise customers, expanding capacity cautiously, and in some cases stepping away from consumer-focused memory products altogether. Micron, for example, has announced its exit from the consumer retail memory market to focus on data center and AI demand.

In this environment, timing matters. Configuring your workstation correctly today can lock in current pricing, avoid future compromises, and extend the usable life of your system.

Our Perspective

We don’t recommend upgrading hardware based on fear or headlines. We recommend planning based on how your lab works today and where it’s headed over the next three to five years.

If your lab is running multiple milling machines, handling more full-arch or implant cases, experiencing performance slowdowns, or planning to scale production, this is a practical moment to evaluate your workstation configuration. A general question you can ask yourself is: Are you waiting on your computer to calculate parts or process scans for a noticeable and/or quantifiable amount of your day? If the answer is yes, it’s time to evaluate your options.

Investing in sufficient RAM now is often more cost-effective than upgrading later under tighter market conditions.

Level Up CAD/CAM workstations are built by professionals who work alongside dental labs every day. Each system is configured with appropriate baseline RAM, future upgrade headroom, and components selected specifically for CAD/CAM reliability.

Evaluate Your Workstation While Pricing Is Still Favorable

You can explore our high-performance CAD/CAM workstation configurations here: https://levelupcadcam.store/collections/high-performance-cad-cam-workstation

If you’re unsure which configuration best fits your workflow, our team can help you evaluate your current setup and plan a system that supports your lab’s next phase of growth.

Final Thoughts

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the global memory market, and RAM is no longer a low-cost, easily replaceable component. For dental labs and clinics, understanding this shift allows you to act deliberately rather than react later under tighter conditions.

The strongest workstation investments are the ones that anticipate change, not the ones forced by it.