Valve engineers have warned that the global RAM shortage affecting PC and console hardware pricing is continuing to worsen, dampening hopes that its upcoming Steam Machine could become cheaper any time soon. In an interview with Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Steam Machine engineers Yazan Aldehayyat and Pierre-Loup Griffais said retail prices are still lagging behind bulk supply trends by several months, meaning the current relative stability in component pricing may not last.

Aldehayyat said retail shelves are seeing effects that lag bulk supply signals "by at least three to six months," suggesting recent stability in DDR5 memory and SSD prices could be temporary rather than a sign of recovery. Valve declined to speculate on future pricing for the Steam Machine itself, but the comments echo similar warnings from other hardware makers including Lenovo, Zotac and Seagate. The shortage has been widely linked to AI data centres consuming vast amounts of DRAM chip supply, driving worldwide component shortages and price-fixing accusations.