Massive AI spending is driving up prices on laptops and electricity, as the Fed watches closely

American consumers — and the Federal Reserve — are being hit with another high-cost headache. The gusher of investment in data centers — likely topping $700 billion this year — to power artificial intelligence has made memory chips, computer processors and other equipment, as well as electricity, more expensive. Economists expect it will continue to push up inflation at least through the end of this year. While it won’t be as large a spike as occurred in 2021-2023, when inflation peaked at 9.1%,

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ethics.ai (13 July 2026), “Massive AI spending is driving up prices on laptops and electricity, as the Fed watches closely,” evidence record 10102, https://ethics.ai/record/10102 (originally published by Fast Company Tech).

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