Even before it happened Tim Cook CEO Apple, he was the man responsible for the entire supply chain Apple. For many years, he has been solving problems on how to produce a product as quickly, cheaply and at the same time as the best in the world and deliver it from the assembly line to the customer. There are few people in the world who have a better insight into what is happening in the memory market right now than he. Tim Cook. A few years ago, few people would have thought that one of the biggest problems in the technological world would be ordinary memory. But in recent months, memory chips have become an extremely sought-after commodity, and their shortage is starting to be felt by practically the entire technological industry. The Apple. Tim Cook, even described the situation in the memory market as something he had not encountered in his more than forty-year career.
The current problem has a relatively simple cause. The huge expansion of artificial intelligence also means a huge hunger for data center hardware. Therefore, memory manufacturers are shifting an increasing part of their production capacity towards products designed specifically for AI servers. But production capacity is notoneAs more memory is produced for data centers, less capacity is left for conventional consumer electronics. The result is shortages and skyrocketing prices.
Apple He has been acknowledging this problem for several months now. Tim Cook during the July financial results call, he stated that Apple paid more for memory in the quarter ending in June than in the previous quarter and expected further cost increases for the September quarter. The situation is also complicated by the fact that the DRAM market is extremely concentrated. It is practically dominated by the trio of Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, so Apple doesn't have many options where to turn in case of problems. Apple has long sought to increase the price of componecannot absorb them or compensate them with savings elsewhere. But according to Cookand the current situation has reached a point where this is no longer possible in the long term. "Unfortunately, price increases are inevitable," he said Cook in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, saying that Apple tried to protect customers from the sharp increase in costs, but the situation, he said, had become unsustainable and Apple sononec had to increase the prices of its first products already this summer.
Now everyone is anxiously waiting to see what happens to the prices iPhone and iPad, which Apple will be presented in just a few days. It is with them that Apple So far, the impact of rising memory prices has not been reflected in the price tags. However, with the arrival of the new generation, the situation may be different. Moreover, the rising costs of memory do not only affect RAM itself, but also storage, with both componenty are the basis of practically every device that Apple sells.
It would be a mistake to think that this is a problem for one company. Virtually all manufacturers of computers, smartphones, tablets and game consoles face the same pressure. The reason is simple. Technology companies are competing with AI infrastructure operators for the same production capacities, while data centers are the ones willing to pay huge amounts for high-end memory.Pro This creates an awkward situation for consumer electronics manufacturers. Either a higher price for the componeThe manufacturers will pay from their margin, or at least partially pass it on to the customer. And if memory prices continue to rise, it will become increasingly difficult to choose the first option.
Apple He also pointed out that he does not expect a quick resolution of the situation in the coming months. Cook during the company's latest results, he stated that market prices for memory continue to rise and their impact on the company's financial performance Apple may gradually become even greater. The whole situation is a bit paradoxical. AI was supposed to be a technology that would make our lives easier, but its huge expansion is also helping to increase the price of the devices on which we use it. Moreover, the construction of new factories and the expansion of production capacities are not a matter of a few months. So if the demand for hardware for AI data centers remains at current levels or even grows, the pressure on consumer electronics prices may continue for quite a long time. And when he warns of something similar Tim Cook, it's worth taking note. Few people in the tech world have as much experience managing supply chains as he does. So when he says he's never seen anything like it in more than four decades in the industry, it doesn't bode well for the prices of future iPhones, Macs, and iPads.
