Shortages of chipsets and RAM caused by the AI data centre boom are beginning to affect the telecommunications sector, according to MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita.
Responding to a question from TechCentral at MTN Group’s presentation of its annual results to 31 December 2025 on Monday, Mupita said MTN has seen the cost of computing elements such as servers and network equipment rise, advising its operating countries to prioritise what is most important to maximise capital expenditure.
TechCentral reported in January that prices of PCs, servers and other electronic devices were rising due to manufacturers shifting their production lines away from the RAM chips used in everyday electronics towards higher-margin, high-bandwidth memory used by data centres.
The effect quickly translated into the smartphone market, with Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon in February predicting that ongoing memory shortages and resultant price increases will “define the overall scale of the handset industry” over the company’s next fiscal year.
The launch price of the Samsung Galaxy S26, which was higher than that of its predecessor, the Galaxy S25, exemplified this phenomenon. Speaking to TechCentral in an interview at the device’s launch event in Johannesburg in February, Justin Hume, vice president of Samsung South Africa, said the inflationary impact of the RAM shortage was buffered by a stronger rand. Otherwise, the Galaxy S26 price would have been even higher.
Sim cards, too
“The memory shortage is creating a cost-base pressure that is coming through. Fortunately, in South Africa we have had a favourable exchange rate that has mitigated a large portion of that,” said Hume. (The rand has weakened considerably in recent weeks as a result of the US/Israel war on Iran.)
MTN in South Africa runs a device subsidy programme aimed at migrating the portion of its subscriber base still reliant on 2G and 3G phones for connectivity onto low-cost 4G handsets. The move aims to reduce the complexity of managing MTN’s network, which currently hosts four generations of network technology – 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G – ahead of the statutory switch-off of legacy networks, for which government has set a deadline of 31 December 2027.
Read: MTN’s Iran problem: can’t stay, can’t leave
Ferdi Moolman, former MTN Nigeria CEO and successor to Charles Molapisi as CEO of MTN South Africa, said there hasn’t been a significant change in the pricing of low-cost 4G and 5G handsets, but MTN anticipates there might be a shortage soon.
According to Mupita, the effects in the telecoms sector go beyond devices, servers and networking equipment, with Sim cards also affected.
“Chipsets are just one category we are looking at. Sim cards are another category where prices have gone up quite a bit over the last few months,” he said.
MTN Group chief technology officer Amith Maharaj explained that the strategy of deploying the bulk of capex early on has helped weather any market shocks by ensuring “items with long lead times” such as servers were procured prior to any serious increases in pricing. The challenge, rather, is “the delta”: incremental procurement is now more expensive.
Read: The era of (relatively) cheap computers is over
Both Maharaj and Mupita said they do not foresee any significant shocks to supply chains, meaning MTN’s ability to procure computing infrastructure such as network equipment will be restricted only by the price sensitivity of its opcos and not by shortages. “We’re not seeing a drastic shortage, but we’re seeing the price of compute going up significantly, largely due to the better returns [manufacturers get from making] AI chipsets,” said Maharaj. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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