Apple and Microsoft hike prices as AI crunches global memory chip supply

Source Domain: www.cbc.ca

Apple hiked iPad and MacBook prices on Thursday, saying it could no longer shield customers from soaring memory and storage chip costs driven by the AI industry’s data centre buildout.

“The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge,” Apple said in a statement to CBC News. “We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”

The company has shielded customers from increases thus far, it said. “But we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac.”

Apple website hiked immediately, other stores unclear

Apple pricing on its website changed right away, with its lowest-price laptop, the MacBook Neo, now starting at $949, an increase of $150. The Education model will start at $819, up from $679.

Apple also raised the prices for both versions of its HomePod smart speaker and Apple TV set-top box, but the move does not affect its main cash cow, the iPhone.

Other Canadian retailers carrying Apple products will increase prices depending on when the company notifies its other distributors, so it is unclear if the prices will go up at the same time.

However, one major Western Canadian retailer says these increases were expected.

“It’s not surprising to see this starting to make its way into some of the mainstream products that customers are buying today,” said Jeff Townsend, general manager of technology at London Drugs, which carries higher-end products from companies like Apple.

Prices going up as AI drives down parts supply

Certain critical components in everything from Apple computers to Nintendo gaming systems are being bought up by artificial intelligence companies, leaving less supply for consumer devices, and that’s driving up prices.

Random access memory, or RAM, is a critical component in most electronic devices. As AI companies race to build out data centres, Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix — the world’s major memory…

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