Apple’s products have gone up in price. They are far from the only ones impacted by RAMageddon.
Even a company with as robust a supply chain as Apple is not immune to the global shortage of computer chips, largely driven by AI data center demands.
In a recent earnings call, outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that the company was “expecting the impacts of supply chain constraints to increase significantly” in the weeks and months to come.
The acknowledgment comes months after the company raised prices across its lineup of devices, including its desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets by hundreds of dollars in response to component shortages. A standard configuration level Macbook Air, for example, jumped from $1,099 to $1,299.
And there likely won’t be any relief anytime soon as AI data center demands persist, according to Nada Sanders, a distinguished professor of supply chain management at Northeastern University.
“When it comes to price increases, the sky’s the limit,” said Sanders. “It’s an AI memory supercycle that is not going to abate. It’s not going to get better.”
Apple is far from the only company impacted by severe computer chip shortages — what’s being called RAMageddon, a reference to Random Access Memory, or RAM.
“This isn’t unique to Apple,” he said. “It’s an issue shared by everybody who makes electronics because they all need memory,” Sanders said.
Over the past year, consumer technology companies have raised prices across the board — from videogame console makers such as Sony and Microsoft to PC makers like Dell and HP.
By the end of the year, PC prices and smartphone prices are expected to rise 17% and 13%, respectively, compared to 2025, according to a report from the market research firm Gartner.
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What is causing this bottleneck?
Apple and other electronics providers rely on high-end memory chips that are built almost entirely by just three semiconductor companies — Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix, explained Ahmed Busnaina, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern and an expert in nanotechnologies.
And those providers are currently prioritizing AI data center demands, Sanders explained.
AI data centers are projected to consume 70% of all memory chips made in 2026, according to media reports.
In an interview with Reuters last month, SK Hynix Chief Executive Kwak Noah said that 2027 will likely be the “worst year in the industry’s history” and that the company “forecast customer demand will remain higher than our supply capacity even beyond 2030.”
None of these companies saw the AI boom coming, said Busnaina, and now they are racing to set up new fabrication facilities to meet rising demands.
But the first of those likely won’t be up and running for at least a few years, he said.
“It wasn’t until about a year ago that this demand actually showed up,” he said. “It takes years to build up capacity, so now they are trying to catch up, and as they are trying to catch up, the prices of memory will go up.”
In the interim, some companies are working to offset the rising costs of their products by introducing versions with less memory demands, Sanders explained. Microsoft’s base-level Surface Laptop used to ship with 16 gigabytes of RAM. Now it starts with eight.
Others are also getting creative with their pricing strategy. Apple, for example, recently launched its Apple Upgrade program, a new service that allows customers to lease their iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch through a monthly subscription.
“A monthly payment makes a $1,300 laptop — or potentially a $2,000-plus phone — feel more affordable than presenting customers with the full purchase price at checkout,” she said. Super smart move.”