Apple may hike prices as it grapples with memory chip shortage: Report
California, June 18
,: Apple is likely to raise prices of its products as it confronts rising memory and storage chip costs, its outgoing chief Tim Cook told Wall Street Journal in an interview.
The Apple boss described the situation as "unsustainable" saying that the iPhone maker has done everything to shield customers and that the company has done its best to mitigate the huge price increases that have been passed on to it.
Cook declined to detail the products that could see a price hike, the WSJ report added.
The recent artificial intelligence (AI) boom has seen the demand for memory chips skyrocket. The spurt in deploying enterprise AI solutions and agentic AI has led to a huge demand for frontier models. These models are trained in massive data centres that have at their very core AI servers comprising GPUs, CPUs, memory chips and storage chips.
Companies like Korea's SK Hynix and Samsung and America's Micron that make memory and storage chips have seen their shares zoom to record levels taking their valuation past a trillion-dollars.
Apple is expected to next launch its iPhone 18 in September that may include a foldable phone. The huge demand for memory chips by AI companies has seen companies like Apple which need these memory chips to run smartphones, iPads struggle to secure their supplies.
AI hyperscalers like Amazon's AWS and Alphabet have seen massive capital spending as they ramp up compute infrastructure to train massive AI models. Exploding demand from AI companies has been a big challenge for consumer electronics companies like Apple as they have to wait in line to secure supplies.
Globally, companies are making rapid developments in the field of advanced memory chips. South Korea's SK Hynix sent a sample of its latest high bandwidth memory chips to customers.
The next-generation 12-layer HBM4E chip can go up to speeds of 16 gigabits per second per pin and offers over 20% better power efficiency than previous models, a Reuters report quoted the company as saying.
— ANI
Reader Comments
This AI boom is affecting everything. I work in IT and we see massive demand for GPUs, now memory chips too. Apple should have planned better. Tim Cook saying "unsustainable" is rich when Apple has record profits. Hope Indian consumers don't get hit hardest as usual. 🇮🇳
SK Hynix and Samsung are dominating. Interesting how Korean companies are leading in memory chips. For India, we need to invest more in semiconductor manufacturing. This shortage shows how dependent the world is on few suppliers. Apple better not increase prices too much in India. 😕
Honestly, Apple products in India are already luxury items. GST, import duties, and now chip shortage? The iPhone 18 will cost a bomb if foldable. Maybe it's time for Indian consumers to support local brands like Micromax or Lava? Just a thought. But quality wise, Apple is hard to beat. 🤔
As an Apple loyalist, this frustrates me. I understand supply chain issues, but Apple has huge cash reserves. Why not invest in securing chip supply or developing in-house solutions? Tim Cook is too focused on shareholder returns. Indian customers deserve better than constant price hikes. 😤
Interesting times. The AI demand is reshaping entire industries. While Apple struggles, Indian IT firms should see opportunity in semiconductor design and manufacturing. We need to reduce import dependence. Also, Apple should consider making more components in India under PLI scheme to offset costs. 💡
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.