What's Causing the Memory Price Hike?

Trazom28 asks: "Anyone else noticed how much memory prices have jumped in the last few months? For example, back in early summer, I purchased a 128 meg stick of PC100 for around $100 from Micro Trends. It's been on a steady increase the last few months, and today, it goes for $182. So.. anyone else heard of why, or is this artifical market inflation? "