On June 26, according to technology website 9to5mac, Micron Technology Chief Commercial Officer Sumit Sadana hinted in an interview that Apple bears some responsibility for the current tight memory supply situation.
Apple raises prices due to memory shortage
Apple announced price increases on a number of products including Macs and iPads on Thursday, citing the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centers, which has led to an abnormal surge in demand and unprecedented shortages of memory and storage chips.
However, as one of Apple's suppliers, Micron has a different view on the current situation. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Micron Chief Commercial Officer Sardana, although he did not name the company by name, suggested that Apple bears some responsibility for the current situation.
Sardana said in an interview Wednesday night that during the last memory market downturn, Micron's gross profits were negative and the company was unable to invest, in part because some customers took the opportunity to purchase at extremely low prices.
"We told some customers who were very aggressive in pricing that this approach was not constructive." He said, without naming Apple, but added that too low prices would inhibit capital investment. "In 2023, due to extremely poor pricing and extremely low profit margins, many investments in the industry have been halted."
As we all know, Apple has always been known for being tough on prices when negotiating with suppliers, and its long-term purchase agreements have been mentioned repeatedly in recent months and are considered to be one of the reasons why the company is better able to withstand memory price increases than its competitors.
But while these agreements allow Apple to lock in lower prices and delay price increases for longer, Micron executives suggest that this approach may also contribute to an unsustainable pricing environment that reduces the industry's incentive to invest in more production capacity.