California, June 18: Apple may be forced to raise prices across parts of its product lineup as escalating costs for memory and storage chips continue to pressure the technology giant’s supply chain, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Describing the situation as “unsustainable,” Cook said Apple has taken extensive measures to shield consumers from rising component costs but indicated that maintaining current pricing levels could become increasingly difficult.
“We’ve done everything we can to absorb these increases and protect customers,” Cook was quoted as saying. However, he declined to specify which products could be affected by potential price adjustments.
The remarks come as the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom drives unprecedented demand for advanced semiconductor components, particularly memory and storage chips that are critical to both AI infrastructure and consumer electronics.
The rapid deployment of enterprise AI systems and next-generation AI models has significantly increased demand for high-performance computing hardware. Large-scale AI data centres rely on graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), memory chips and storage components, creating intense competition for semiconductor supplies.
Major memory chip manufacturers, including South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, as well as U.S.-based Micron Technology, have benefited from the surge in demand, with their market valuations rising sharply in recent months.
Apple, which depends on memory chips for products such as iPhones, iPads and Mac computers, is among the consumer electronics companies facing growing challenges in securing sufficient supply as AI-related demand continues to expand.
The company is widely expected to unveil its next-generation iPhone 18 lineup in September, with industry reports suggesting that a foldable iPhone could be introduced. Any increase in component costs could influence pricing strategies for future product launches.
At the same time, major AI infrastructure operators—including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Alphabet—have substantially increased capital expenditures to expand computing capacity for training and deploying advanced AI models. Their aggressive investments have further tightened the market for critical semiconductor components.
The industry is also witnessing rapid innovation in memory technology. SK Hynix recently announced that it has supplied samples of its latest High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips to customers. According to the company, the new 12-layer HBM4E chip delivers speeds of up to 16 gigabits per second per pin and offers more than 20 percent higher power efficiency compared with previous-generation products.
Analysts say continued growth in AI workloads is likely to keep demand for advanced memory solutions elevated, potentially reshaping pricing dynamics across the broader technology sector and increasing cost pressures for consumer device manufacturers.
