Apple to raise prices due to AI chip demand, CEO tells WSJ

• Apple plans price increases on some products due to rising memory and storage chip costs.
• CEO Tim Cook cited AI demand for data centers as a primary driver of increased component costs.
• Cook stated that price increases are unavoidable and the current situation is unsustainable.
• The timing, scale, and specific products affected by the price hikes were not disclosed.

Apple is planning price increases on some of its products as a global shortage of memory chips drives up costs across the consumer electronics industry, CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal. Cook stated that price increases are unavoidable and that the company has been trying to shield customers from the huge increases being passed to them, but the situation has become unsustainable.

Cook explained that there is less supply at a time when consumers want devices, and memory chip manufacturers are passing along huge price increases. He emphasized the need for memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. The warning comes as AI companies are consuming large quantities of memory chips for data centers, which is squeezing supplies of DRAM and NAND chips used in everyday gadgets.

Apple recently raised prices on its latest MacBook lineup, with the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chip jumping to $2,199 from $1,999, and the 16-inch model rising to $2,699 from $2,499. Other tech companies, including Microsoft, have also increased prices as memory costs soar. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan recently predicted the industry could see no relief until 2028.