According to reports, nine U.S. trade associations representing industries including automotive, medical devices, and retail jointly wrote to Treasury Secretary Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday, warning that the shortage of memory chips is threatening the stability of critical supply chains and could drive up consumer prices in the short term.

In their letter, these groups stated that the expansion of AI data centers has consumed excessive memory chip capacity, causing chip prices to "surge unprecedentedly" and compressing available supply for manufacturing and consumer goods sectors. They urged the Trump administration to collaborate with chip manufacturers and buyers to expand production capacity both domestically and among allied nations, and recommended leveraging trade agreement mechanisms or the CHIPS Act program to secure supply chain resilience.