The shortage of RAM memory that is currently being experienced – and which seems to continue for quite some time – has made it clear that the enormous demand for hardware to train AI can put the entire technology industry and consumers in a difficult situation.
Now, artificial intelligence attacks again, and this time the affected is a little-known material, but essential for the most advanced processors: high quality fiberglass.
Fiberglass is a necessary component to manufacture chips and printed electronic circuits. The most advanced materials of this type are currently manufactured by only one company in the world, the Japanese Nitto Boseki.
Although at first technological device manufacturers had no problems obtaining supplies of this material, the High demand from companies that want to make specific chips for AI, such as Nvidia, Google and Amazon, has created a shortage situation identical to that of the RAM memories, as stated Nikkei Asia.
According to the sources consulted by this medium, the situation may be one of the biggest bottlenecks that the technology industry and artificial intelligence faces during 2026, especially because it has no signs of improving soon.
At the moment, Nitto Boseki does not have additional capacity with which to meet the demand of processor manufacturers and the AI industry. The situation is not expected to improve until the Japanese company launches its capacity increase, planned for the second half of 2027..
In this way, it will coincide with the shortage of RAM, which large manufacturers such as the Korean SK Hynix warn could last until 2028.
Apple and Qualcomm, among those affected
Among the affected manufacturers are some of the most important.
Apple has been using this company’s components for several generations of iPhones, and another technology company that uses it is the American Qualcomm, known especially for its Snapdragon processors.
The iPhone maker has sent representatives to Japan to try to obtain more fiberglass supplies of Nitto for the processors of its next mobile phones, and has even negotiated with representatives of the Japanese government, so far without success.
The same has happened with Qualcomm, which has tried to start working with another smaller Japanese supplier, Unitika, although it has not been able to solve the current shortage situation that seems to prevail over the next year and a half.