On Thursday, Apple reported earnings showing a record June quarter across products and geographies. But Apple executives are wary going forward and are warning that supply constraints might make landfall on its financials. Apple executives are expecting revenue growth in the current quarter ending in September to come in less than analyst expectations, driven largely by supply constraints for Macs, iPads and iPhones. The supply constraint is mostly impacting Apple’s access to advanced chips, something that the Cupertino giant has been warning about for months. But soaring memory prices are also painting a concerning picture for both Apple and its consumers. CEO Tim Cook said in the company’s earnings call that Apple is paying increasingly more for memory with each passing quarter. Some of that price increase they were able to partially offset by carrying over inventory. Cook thinks Apple will be able to use that strategy in the September quarter, but benefits will decrease beyond that. “If you look beyond September, we see the market pricing for memory continuing to increase, which could drive an increasing impact on our business,” Cook said.
The AI boom and the unprecedented data center buildout have led to soaring demand for high-bandwidth memory chips. With finite chipmaking capacity, the top chipmakers have had to shift focus to addressing the AI industry’s supply needs at the expense of consumer electronics manufacturers that use these memory chips to produce computers and smartphones. As a result, consumer-level memory supply has dragged, causing delays and price hikes that are gradually getting passed on to consumers as the crisis continues with no end in sight. Experts foresee it getting worse into next year and possibly continuing into the next decade.
