Your system has run out of application memory - brand new macbook

I just started up my new 2020 Macbook Pro and all of a sudden it's alerting me that "Your system has run out of application memory"

When I check out the activity monitor, Chrome is clearly using most of my RAM. But I only have about 6 tabs open and no other apps running.

This is super strange. My last 2020 Macbook (which was stolen last week, hence my new replacement) would run fine with about 50 chrome tabs open and other apps running. Same RAM (8gb).

I'm wondering if there is some sort of malware draining my memory? Anyone recommend a way to check for malware? I've looked through my apps and there doesn't appear to be anything suspicious downloaded. But when I look at the Memory tab of the activity monitor there are about a billion things using the memory.

Help!

TIA!