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Tim Cook Warns of ‘Once-in-a-Century’ Memory Price Surge Hitting Apple’s Supply Chain

2026-08-01·newswire-us-stock-182001
Tim Cook Warns of ‘Once-in-a-Century’ Memory Price Surge Hitting Apple’s Supply Chain.

Apple CEO Tim Cook warned during his final earnings call as chief executive that the company is facing a “once-in-a-century” surge in memory-chip prices. The supply shock has forced Apple to raise product prices and lower its revenue outlook. At Thursday’s earnings meeting, Cook said the company’s supply-chain flexibility had narrowed sharply.

“Over the next quarter, we’ll have to scramble on the supply side and do everything we can to address various shortages,” he said. Cook said strong demand from AI data centers for high-bandwidth memory and advanced DRAM chips is continuing to squeeze supplies available to consumer-electronics companies, driving prices sharply higher.

He said the DRAM market is dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix and a third company; the supplied source is truncated before naming that third company.

“It would be nice if there were more suppliers,” Cook said, adding that Apple is “evaluating all viable options.” To offset cost pressures, Apple raised prices across its Mac and iPad product lines by $150 to $300 in June. Supply-chain constraints are still weighing on results.

Apple said iPhone unit-sales growth in the current quarter is expected to slow to about 15%, down from 22% in the previous quarter. Total revenue growth is projected at 9% to 10% year over year, below analysts’ 12% expectation. Apple shares fell about 8% at one point after the earnings report.

Cook is scheduled to hand over the CEO role in September to John Ternus, the company’s head of hardware engineering. Cook said during the meeting that he had “never been more optimistic about Apple’s future.”

#Stocks #Apple #AI #Semiconductors #Earnings

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Tim Cook Warns of ‘Once-in-a-Century’ Memory Price Surge Hitting Apple’s Supply Chain

Apple CEO Tim Cook warned during his final earnings call as chief executive that the company is facing a “once-in-a-century” surge in memory-chip prices. The supply shock has forced Apple to raise product prices and lower its revenue outlook. At Thursday’s earnings meeting, Cook said the company’s supply-chain flexibility had narrowed sharply. “Over the next quarter, we’ll have to scramble on the supply side and do everything we can to address various shortages,” he said. Cook said strong demand from AI data centers for high-bandwidth memory and advanced DRAM chips is continuing to squeeze supplies available to consumer-electronics companies, driving prices sharply higher. He said the DRAM market is dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix and a third company; the supplied source is truncated before naming that third company. “It would be nice if there were more suppliers,” Cook said, adding that Apple is “evaluating all viable options.” To offset cost pressures, Apple raised prices across its Mac and iPad product lines by $150 to $300 in June. Supply-chain constraints are still weighing on results. Apple said iPhone unit-sales growth in the current quarter is expected to slow to about 15%, down from 22% in the previous quarter. Total revenue growth is projected at 9% to 10% year over year, below analysts’ 12% expectation. Apple shares fell about 8% at one point after the earnings report. Cook is scheduled to hand over the CEO role in September to John Ternus, the company’s head of hardware engineering. Cook said during the meeting that he had “never been more optimistic about Apple’s future.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook warned during his final earnings call as chief executive that the company is facing a “once-in-a-century” surge in memory-chip prices. The supply shock has forced Apple to raise product prices and lower its revenue outlook.

At Thursday’s earnings meeting, Cook said the company’s supply-chain flexibility had narrowed sharply. “Over the next quarter, we’ll have to scramble on the supply side and do everything we can to address various shortages,” he said.

Cook said strong demand from AI data centers for high-bandwidth memory and advanced DRAM chips is continuing to squeeze supplies available to consumer-electronics companies, driving prices sharply higher. He said the DRAM market is dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix and a third company; the supplied source is truncated before naming that third company. “It would be nice if there were more suppliers,” Cook said, adding that Apple is “evaluating all viable options.”

To offset cost pressures, Apple raised prices across its Mac and iPad product lines by $150 to $300 in June. Supply-chain constraints are still weighing on results. Apple said iPhone unit-sales growth in the current quarter is expected to slow to about 15%, down from 22% in the previous quarter. Total revenue growth is projected at 9% to 10% year over year, below analysts’ 12% expectation.

Apple shares fell about 8% at one point after the earnings report. Cook is scheduled to hand over the CEO role in September to John Ternus, the company’s head of hardware engineering. Cook said during the meeting that he had “never been more optimistic about Apple’s future.”

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