Apple, Microsoft Raise Prices as Chip Shortage Extends to 2028 - Whalesbook

Apple and Microsoft have raised prices for key electronics due to a prolonged global shortage of memory chips, a situation expected to persist until 2028. The root cause is the surge in demand for chi... Read original →

The AI-driven surge has shattered the semiconductor supply chain’s elasticity. Advanced 3nm logic and DDR5 memory chips, constrained by EUV lithography bottlenecks, have become cost black holes for OEMs. Apple and Microsoft’s price hikes signal acceptance of a high-cost reality persisting through 2028. Despite aggressive capacity expansions by TSMC (Taiwan, China), Samsung, and SK Hynix, new 300mm fabs require 18–24 months to ramp, with yield learning curves adding further delay. Equipment lead times now exceed 12 months, throttling tech iteration. Geopolitical compliance—especially U.S. CHIPS Act localization mandates—is inflating capital redundancy. Over the next 12–24 months, mid-tier PC and server vendors face margin collapse, while tech giants consolidate supply chains to jointly negotiate memory and logic chip pricing. This shortage isn’t cyclical—it’s a structural rupture caused by AI’s insatiable compute demands.