The artificial intelligence boom has an appetite problem. It’s eating through the world’s memory chip supply so fast that there’s increasingly little left for the phones, laptops, and gadgets regular people actually buy.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said on June 17, 2026, that price increases on the company’s products are “unavoidable” due to surging memory and storage chip costs. The company had been absorbing those rising costs for months. That strategy, apparently, hit its ceiling.
Data centers are hoarding the chips
In 2026, data centers are expected to consume as much as 70% of total memory production. In English: for every ten memory chips rolling off a production line, seven are heading to server farms. That leaves smartphone makers, PC manufacturers, and consumer electronics companies fighting over the remaining three.
Memory prices have more than doubled since October 2025. DRAM prices saw substantial increases throughout 2025, and analysts project an additional 30-40% climb in 2026.
