Sony and Nintendo are reportedly feeling squeezed by RAM shortages as demand from AI data centers takes up an increasing share of memory chip production. In response to rising costs and dwindling chip supplies, Sony is considering pushing back the release of its next PlayStation console "to 2028 or even 2029," according to industry sources cited by Bloomberg, while Nintendo may increase the $450 price of its Switch 2 console this year.
Corning Incorporated ( NYSE:GLW) has delivered one of 2026's most impressive rallies, climbing 50.2% year-to-date and 46% over the past month. Corning's 2026 is so good, it's now the 6th top performing stock in the entire S&P 500. The 175-year-old materials science company is riding three converging waves: stellar earnings execution, a massive partnership with Meta, and surging demand for AI data center infrastructure.
The Associated Builders and Contractors trade group estimated in a report last month the industry will need to bring in 456,000 new workers in 2027, up 30.7% from the 349,000 needed this year. "Failing to do so will worsen labor shortages, especially in certain occupations and regions, placing further upward pressure on labor costs," ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu warned in a statement.
While the holiday season typically drives stronger demand, the surge in late 2025 was further amplified by emerging memory shortages that led buyers and brands to secure inventory ahead of anticipated price increases in 2026,
A lot of the hoopla started when investors questioned Oracle's ( NASDAQ:ORCL) heavy debt load for the OpenAI deal. Capital expenditures came under pressure, and people wondered how OpenAI would be able to pay $300 billion over five years. That contract starts in 2027, and rumors circulated that OpenAI pushed back its data center completion to 2028, a year later than initially planned. It put more pressure on AI data center providers like IREN, even though Oracle refuted the rumor on the same day.
When Sam Altman said one year ago that OpenAI's Roman Empire is the actual Roman Empire, he wasn't kidding. In the same way that the Romans gradually amassed an empire of land spanning three continents and one-ninth of the Earth's circumference, the CEO and his cohort are now dotting the planet with their own latifundia-not agricultural estates, but AI data centers.
The land around Hassayampa Ranch, 50 miles west of Phoenix, is dotted with saguaro cacti and home to coyotes, jackrabbits, and rattlesnakes. Its few hundred human residents were largely drawn by the tranquility and clear skies for stargazing. But several of the biggest names in Silicon Valley are suddenly very interested in what happens on this serene stretch of desert.
When Oracle failed to meet revenue expectations and suggested that large-scale data centers may not be ready until 2028, it immediately chilled sentiment across the entire sector. On the same day the Dow pushed to new highs, the Nasdaq was hit hard, with anything even loosely tied to AI selling off aggressively. That divergence told us the market was reassessing the timeline, not the technology.
One afternoon in June 2024, I stood up against the fence of a sprawling industrial facility a few miles outside of Corsicana, Texas. Over a metal gate, I watched a bright yellow excavator claw at the dirt and flatbed trucks shuttle to and fro. A hangar-like structure with a gleaming white roof stretched hundreds of meters along the opposite perimeter. The company that owned the plot, Riot Platforms, was busily constructing the world's largest bitcoin mine.
