Chicago Tribune – March 10 2026 – Chicago Tribune

The shortage would not be of general-purpose semiconductors, or microcontrollers, that caused plantshutdowns,lowvehicleinven- tories,disabledfeaturesandhigher prices in the wake of the COVID- 19 pandemic. The problem instead lies with dynamic random-access memory,orDRAM(dee-ram),chips that support artificial intelligence, infotainment and advanced driver assistancesystems(ADAS). A boom in AI data center devel- opment has resulted in chip manufacturers prioritizing these high-bandwidth memory appli- cations with high-margin oppor- tunities from newer-generation chips, forcing consumer electron- ics companies and automakers to pay higher prices and scramble for supply.

“If you’re in on the automo- tive-consuming side of this equa- tion,” said Phil Amsrud, analyst for S&PGlobalInc.’sautomotivesemi- conductor research area, “your prices are going to go up and cash flownegativelywillbeimpacted.” Two major things AI needs to operate are: lots of power and lots of memory. DRAM is the organ behind the memory storage in AI datacenters. A report from global wealth manager UBS Group AG found companiesarereportingmorethan 100% price increases on DRAM chips.

It predicts automakers will coverabout80%ofthecostsshared with suppliers, many of whom are increasinglyunderfinancialpressure frominflation,tariffsandothercosts. Suppliers in electronics and ADAS aremostat-risk. “The prices have increased, because there is a lot of demand in generalforthememorychipsdriven byAI,”saidDavidLesne,UBSanlyst. “Butthen,ifyoulook12-24months from now, the chips that the auto industry is using — which are a bit more basic and not necessarily so profitable for the memory chip suppliers — and we might be in a situationofmoreshortages.”

Most vulnerable are premium autobrandsandEVmakers,includ- ing those in China, analysts said. Althoughvehicleshadhundredsof themicrocontrollersthatwereshort a few years ago, DRAM represents about$25to$150ofthecontentina vehicle,accordingtoUBS. DRAM chips especially are important for users of automotive system-on-a-chip, or SoC, technol- ogythatcombinescomputingfunc- tions like ADAS, infotainment and vehicle control onto a single chip. SoCisthemainenablerofzonalelec- trical architectures in vehicles that automakers likes Tesla Inc., Rivian AutomotiveInc.andsomeChinese manufacturersusetounlockincreas- ingly software-defined vehicles, lower costs and improve over-the- airupdates. “Thoseguyscan’tbuildcarswith- out DRAMs,” Amsrud said. “It’s one of the few times in my recent memory where being a traditional automaker might actually have a littlebitofanadvantage.”

If needed, they could remove certain content or features, though automakerslikeFordMotorCo.and GeneralMotorsCo.alsoareworking on rolling out vehicles with central computing electrical architectures aswell. There are multiple kinds of DRAM. The auto industry primar- ilyhasusedDDR4andLPDDR4— the fourth-generation low-power double data rate. The fifth gener- ation, however, mostly is what AI uses with higher memory capacity andgreaterefficiency.Thetechnol- ogy also provides higher profits for chipfabricators.Asaresult,theyare prioritizingcapacityforthoseappli- cations. Unlike the microcontroller shortage,thereissufficientproduc- tion capacity for DRAM for now, experts said.

But smartphones and tablets represent about 35% of global DRAM revenue, comput- ers are 25% and servers and data centersareabout20%,accordingto UBS.Automotivemakesupalower single-digitspercentage,resultingin lowerprioritization.

Having a party at a supermarket meant dancing next to cabbage and eggplant in the produce aisle — or slip- ping away from the packed dance floor tocooloffnearthefishballsandfrozen seafood. Alongthesidelines,parentsandtitos and titas, Filipino aunts and uncles, CHICAGO’S HOTTEST CLUB IS … Seafood City? Viral pop-up dance party comes to the Filipino grocery store By Christiana Freitag | CHICAGO TRIBUNE PartyinAisle8! UnderthefluorescentlightsandproducebannersofSeafoodCitySupermar- ket,anunlikelydanceflooropenedforoverathousandChicagoansFridaynight. InsidethisFilipinogrocerystoreintheNorthMayfairneighborhood,theaisles werepackedwithcrowdswavingPhilippineflags,childrenperchedonparents’ shouldersandpartygoersdancingtoclubclassicsandTagalogballadslike“Bakit Pa”betweendisplaysofproduceandpackagednoodles. Musicthumpedthroughoutthestorewhile,justafewfeetaway,awholelechon pigslowlyroastedforsale—thearomaofcrispyporkfillingthecrowdedscene. “It’slikewalkingintothePhilippines,”saidDJMikey“Jukes”Jucaban,who performedFridaynight. Seafood City Supermarket, 5033 N. Elston Ave., usually closes at 9 p.m. But overtheweekend,themarketstayedopenallnightlongasDJsandpartyhosts transformeditintoalate-nightdanceparty.LateNightMadnessisaviralpop-up experience sweeping the nation, with late-night takeovers in Las Vegas, Los AngelesandSeattle.ButthisweekendmarkedthefirsttimetheFilipinosuper- marketphenomenoncametoChicago.

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B4 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . A8 Television . . . . . . . . . . . B9 INDEX Visit myaccount.chicagotribune.com or call 312-546-7900 to sign up for a subscription.To place an ad,visit placeanad.chicagotribune.com. Complete details on Page A12 SUBSCRIPTION WEATHER FORECAST 178thyearNo.69 © ChicagoTribune By Jon Gambrell, Jamey Keaten and Samy Magdy ASSOCIATED PRESS DUBAI,UnitedArabEmirates— ThousandsofIranianspouredinto acentralsquareinTehranandother locations Monday, waving flags and shouting phrases like “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” in a show of allegiance to the new supremeleader.

The choice of hard-line Ayatol- lah Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his late father as Iran’s supreme leader,andnewstrikesonregional oilinfrastructure,signaledthatIran wasdiggingin10daysintothewar launched by the United States and Israelthatitconsidersafightforthe Islamictheocracy’ssurvival. Meanwhile, a U.S. intelligence assessment completed shortly beforetheUnitedStatesandIsrael launched a war in Iran had deter- mined that American military intervention was not likely to lead toregimechange,accordingtotwo peoplefamiliarwiththefinding.

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