By Julian Chokkattu
Publication Date: 2026-02-07 11:00:00
In an update on its blog, Valve says its goal is still to ship the Steam Frame, Steam Controller, and Steam Machine in the “first half of the year.” But it also indicates that specifics around pricing and launch dates are in flux, saying that “limited availability and growing prices” on storage and memory are forcing Valve to “revisit” these issues. That sounds a lot like price increases, something that nearly every PC manufacturer has already warned about in new products coming in 2026. Companies like Dell and HP are doing everything they can to secure supply, including working with Chinese memory manufacturers for the first time.
The memory shortage has been caused by a huge spike in demand for AI in data centers. The three primary memory manufacturers in the world, Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix, have all but abandoned the consumer market in favor of supporting AI data centers. Prices on off-the-shelf PC memory began to rise in September and October, and really ramped…
