BT Chief Says AI Datacentres Are About to Raise Your Phone Bill

BT's chief executive has warned that tech giants hoarding memory chips for AI infrastructure are squeezing global supply and pushing consumer smartphone prices higher.

BT's CEO says AI datacentre buildouts are consuming memory chips at a scale that is tightening supply across the consumer electronics market.
The pressure is expected to feed through to higher handset prices for UK consumers.
The warning comes as major tech firms race to expand AI computing capacity, driving demand for NAND and DRAM components used in both servers and smartphones.
BT is not itself a handset manufacturer but sells devices on contract and would face higher wholesale costs.
No timeline or specific price-rise figure was attached to the warning.

BT's chief executive has told investors that the global scramble to build out AI datacentres is eating into the memory chip supply that handset makers depend on, and that smartphone prices are likely to rise as a result.

The argument runs straightforwardly: hyperscale tech companies are buying NAND flash and DRAM in volumes large enough to crimp allocation to consumer device manufacturers, who then pass the cost on. BT, which retails handsets on contract, sits downstream of that chain.

The chief executive did not name specific chip suppliers or attach a figure to the expected price increase. The Guardian reported the remarks on 21 May 2026.

Memory chip markets have already been volatile. DRAM spot prices moved sharply through 2024 and 2025 as datacentre procurement accelerated, and analysts at TrendForce had flagged supply tightness in server-grade DRAM well before BT's public comments.

The irony sits neatly on the table: the same AI assistants now helping consumers draft texts and summarise emails may, in the near term, make the phones those consumers use to run them cost noticeably more.