Sony Says Goodbye to Your Camera’s Best Friend
Sony stopped taking orders for almost all its memory cards on March 27, 2026. This includes many SD and CFexpress cards. They say there is a global shortage of semiconductors. This shortage means they cannot meet demand for the foreseeable future. Only a few specific models are still in production. Sony is the first major photography company to pull out like this. Other brands might follow them soon.
The Silicon Diet: Why Memory Cards Can’t Live Without Semiconductors
Memory cards need semiconductor dies to exist. These dies are the core parts of all solid-state storage. Making these chips is a very long and hard process. It involves hundreds of steps like etching and doping. It can take many weeks to finish one batch. Right now, big AI companies are buying most of these dies. They need them for massive enterprise data centers. Sony chose to stop making cards until the market is stable.
AI: The Giant Bully Eating the Global Chip Supply
AI is changing the whole chip market. It has a bottomless hunger for more power and storage. AI needs huge amounts of memory to train its models. It also needs lots of RAM to run conversations. This high demand makes prices jump for everyone else. Some portable SSD prices have tripled in just a few years. Memory cards are also at their highest prices ever. One manufacturer even stopped making products for regular people to focus on AI.
The “Will They, Won’t They” of Sony’s Production Return
Sony does not have a timeline for when they will start again. They will watch the supply and announce updates later. The problem will likely get worse before it gets better. Some experts think the AI bubble will burst eventually. But even then, prices might stay high for years. Companies have already signed long-term contracts for the supply. We have to wait for the market to adjust and for stock to return. For now, Sony is just waiting for the storm to pass.
AI’s hunger for chips leaves photographers in the cold. Sony has no return date. With big tech buying every die, your next SD card might cost more than your lens. Will the AI bubble burst? Only time will tell. For now, let’s see what will happen.
– Opinion | Daily ScrollDown