AI demand fuels DDR5 RAM scalping bots, DataDome report reveals

A surge in demand for DDR5 memory, driven by the artificial intelligence boom, has led to a significant increase in automated scalping activity, overwhelming online retailers and distorting supply. Bots are now accessing DDR5 RAM product pages nearly six times more frequently than legitimate users, with some campaigns generating over 50,000 scraping requests per hour. This trend highlights the growing impact of AI on hardware markets and the sophisticated tactics employed by fraudsters, with further coverage provided by Silicon Angle.

The report from DataDome details how the insatiable appetite of AI for memory, essential for training large language models and running inference servers, is pushing DDR5 prices higher. Compounding this, manufacturers have shifted production to higher-margin server-grade memory, tightening consumer-grade supply. Bots are not only scraping consumer brands like Corsair and Crucial but also industrial and OEM providers, affecting the entire DDR5 ecosystem from components to retail kits. Attackers are employing advanced evasion techniques, including cache-busting parameters and finely tuned scraping speeds to avoid detection, making traditional security measures like IP blocking ineffective.

The DataDome report emphasizes the need for advanced behavioral analysis capable of identifying impossible traffic consistency and precise, round-the-clock activity to effectively combat these modern threats and protect online retailers and consumers from price gouging.

Source: Silicon Angle