The Telegraph UK: Sony is poised to delay the launch of its latest PlayStation console amid a shortage of memory chips caused by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

The new PS6 could be delayed until 2028 or as late as 2029, according to reports, as the Japanese company struggles to obtain vital components needed for the console amid rival demand from data centres.

Consumer electronic giants like Sony are facing ballooning prices for Random Access Memory (Ram) chips, which have been snapped up by lucrative AI customers to power their large language model chatbots.

The price of Ram chips has soared 600pc over the past year, according to Counterpoint Research, forcing gadget-makers to consider increasing prices or delaying new products. Trendforce has also predicted prices will double over the first quarter of 2026 alone.

Originally pencilled in to launch late next year, the PS6 could not emerge until 2029, Bloomberg reported. The console is the successor to the PS5, which launched in 2020.

Analysts at Sandstone Insights Japan said last month that the new PlayStation was “likely to be delayed longer than many expected” because of the shortage.

Piers Harding-Rolls, from Ampere Analysis, said: “The squeeze on memory availability and increase in pricing is a factor that could derail the launch plans for multiple categories of consumer electronics, including consoles.”

Nintendo is also considering increasing the price of its popular Switch 2 console in response to surging Ram costs, Bloomberg reported.

Ben Wood, the chief analyst at CCS Insight, said: “Memory prices for some consumer electronics products have doubled over the past two quarters, and [they] continue to rise.

“Although memory manufacturers are already investing in new capacity, we don’t expect new supply to materially address constraints until well into 2027 and potentially into early 2028.”

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said last month that he expected to see prices for memory chips to increase “significantly” – with the tech giant considering a “range of options to deal with that”.

Powerful memory chips are also key components for most modern vehicles.

Elon Musk, the Tesla boss, warned last month of an impending squeeze on chips for carmakers, floating the idea of building his own semiconductor plant to combat the shortage.

The microchip shortage threatens to repeat a Covid-era crisis for electronics makers when a sudden jump in demand for gadgets left car companies scrambling to secure semiconductors for their vehicles.

The current price spike has been prompted by an investment blitz by Silicon Valley giants as well as AI labs such as the developer OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.

US listed tech giants have forecast they will spend more than $650bn on technology infrastructure this year.

The three major manufacturers of memory chips – Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron – have already diverted much of their capacity to servicing AI customers, leaving less capacity for consumer gadget-makers.

Ram chips provide short-term memory for operating a computer system, allowing machines to run smoothly and boot up new apps quickly.