The AI boom is making your memory cards more expensive – and Lexar doesn't bank on that changing any time soon

Four people in full white cleanroom suits and masks gather around to inspect a large, dark semiconductor wafer in a high-tech manufacturing facility.

Have you noticed that the price of microSD cards and CFexpress cards hasn't been falling at the rate you might expect, or that the same budget that bought you 256GB a year ago now stretches only to 128GB? Well, there's a reason for it. And it's not manufacturing problems, or shipping disruptions, or any of the usual suspects. It's artificial intelligence.

I got a fresh insight into this recently, as part of a small group of European journalists on an exclusive trip to explore Lexar's Chinese operations first-hand (factories, labs, the lot), in the week the company marked its 30th anniversary.