Sam Altman discusses the DRAM utilization issue in local inference

On October 30, 2026, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman put forward the view that, from the perspective of global resource allocation, it is terrible to let the world's limited DRAM sit idle in personal computers and use only 5% of it. Rohan Paul cited this view the same day, and added that in terms of cost per token, data centers are clearly superior, and that a local model with batch size 1 is wasteful by any utilization metric, but it is also the only part of the entire technology stack that no one can take down from under you. On October 31, The Verge AI reported that Altman, speaking about the RAM shortage on the Cheeky Pint podcast, said that putting RAM in personal PCs rather than data centers is "terrible," and mentioned that Samsung and SK Hynix have signed long-term agreements with cloud service providers and projects such as OpenAI's Stargate, locking in most of the world's RAM production capacity for the coming years, which is also the reason for the current price increases in laptops, phones, and other devices.

AI-generated from public reports

1. Oct 30· 2 reports

   Sam Altman on the DRAM utilization problem in local inference

   Source:Rohan Paul