Whenever a tech titan makes a sweeping statement about the future, industry professionals and even everyday users listen with both curiosity and skepticism. This was the case after Jeff Bezos recently said that in the future, no one will own a personal computer. Instead, we will rent computational power from centralized data centers. He likened the coming shift to the historical move from private electric generators to a public utility grid—a metaphor meant to suggest progress and convenience. However, for those of us dependent on everyday technology, such statements highlight the cloud industry’s current failings more than its grand ambitions.

Let’s address the reality underpinning this narrative: The AI surge has heightened competition for processors and memory, especially from cloud providers buying unprecedented amounts of hardware for next-gen workloads. This has driven up costs and caused shortages throughout the global tech supply chain. Gamers and PC enthusiasts grumble as graphics cards become collectibles, IT managers shake their heads at rising prices for server components, and small businesses reassess whether upgrading on-prem infrastructure is even realistic.

When the entities hoarding the hardware tell consumers to just rent computational resources from them, the contradiction should be lost on no one. Frankly, it’s a hard pill to swallow. Cloud providers like Amazon use their market power to shape AI innovation and demand, distorting global supply and prices of the hardware they then rent back at a premium.

The consumer’s dilemma

For a generation accustomed to buying and customizing their own PCs, or at least having the option to do so, the current trends feel like a squeeze. It’s no longer just about preferring SSDs over hard drives or Nvidia over AMD. It’s about whether you can afford new hardware at all or even find it on the shelves. Gamers, engineers, creatives, and small business owners have all faced the twin burdens of rising prices and limited availability.

With subscription models already dominating software and media, evidence is mounting that hardware could be next. When the ownership of both the computer and the applications it runs becomes just another rented service, the sense of empowerment and agency that has long been a hallmark of the tech community is undermined. As cloud providers gain greater control over the means of computing—both literally and figuratively—the promise of choice starts to ring hollow.

The irony providers can’t ignore

The uncomfortable truth is clear: Cloud providers, driven by their own ambition, are making traditional hardware ownership less sustainable for many, only to then suggest that the solution is to embrace cloud-based computing. This is a closed loop that benefits providers first and foremost. What started as a flexible, on-demand antidote to hardware ownership now looks increasingly like a necessity imposed by artificial scarcity.

For the individual hobbyist or the small business that has spent years carefully balancing budgets for on-premises servers and workstations, these shifts are more than an inconvenience. They’re a serious hindrance to independence and innovation. For large enterprises, the calculation is different but no less complex. Many have the capital and procurement muscle to ride out short-term shortages. Still, they are now being pushed, sometimes aggressively, to commit to cloud contracts that are difficult to unwind and that almost always cost more over time.

Rethinking the role of the cloud

Despite these challenges, cloud computing is here to stay, and there are real strategic advantages to be gained if we approach with clear-eyed recognition of its costs and limitations. No one should feel compelled to rush into the cloud merely because hardware prices have become prohibitive. Instead, users and IT leaders should approach cloud adoption tactically rather than reactively.

For hobbyists and independent professionals, the key is to determine which workloads genuinely benefit from cloud elasticity and which are best served by local hardware. Workstations for creative work, gaming, or development are often better owned outright; cloud resources can supplement these with build servers or render farms, but these should not become the default due to market manipulation.

Small businesses need to weigh the cost of cloud services against the certainty and predictability of owning even slightly dated equipment. For many, the cloud’s principal value lies in handling variable workloads, disaster recovery, or collaboration services where investing in on-prem hardware doesn’t make sense. However, businesses should be wary of cloud vendor lock-in and the ever-increasing operational costs that come with scaling workloads in the public cloud. An honest, recurring evaluation to compare the total cost of ownership for private hardware versus the cloud remains essential, especially as prices continue to shift.

Large enterprises are not immune to these dynamics. They may be courted with enterprise agreements and incentivized pricing, but the economic calculus has shifted. The cloud is rarely as cheap as initially promised, especially at scale. Organizations should take a hybrid approach, keeping core workloads and sensitive data on owned infrastructure where possible and using the cloud for test environments, rapid scaling, or global delivery when justified by business needs.

A path forward in a tight market

The industry must recognize that cloud providers’ pursuit of AI workloads is a double-edged sword: Their innovation and scale are remarkable, but their market power carries responsibility. Providers need to be transparent about the downstream effects of their hardware consumption. More importantly, they must resist the urge to push the narrative that the cloud is the only viable future for everyday computing, especially when that future has been shaped, in part, by their own hands.

As individuals and businesses navigate this evolving landscape, pragmatism must prevail. Embrace the cloud where it adds real, tangible value, but keep a close eye on ownership, cost, and autonomy. Don’t buy the pitch that renting is the only option, especially when that message is delivered by those who’ve made traditional ownership more difficult in the first place. The future of computing should be about choice, not a forced migration driven by the unchecked appetites of cloud giants.