Samsung and Apple both spoke out about the memory chip crisis

Theo Tom’s Hardwarein the first quarter 2026 financial report dated April 30, Mr. Kim Jaejune, leader of Samsung’s memory chip segment, said that the memory crisis will not end in 2027. The gap between supply and demand next year may even widen even more than in 2026. Similarly, Mr. Chey Tae Won, President of SK Hynix, said that the pressure on AI-related memory demand will last until next year. 2030.

The shortage is so severe that the DRAM market is adopting an hourly price adjustment model. The cause of the prolonged crisis is the huge demand from artificial intelligence data centers. Modern AI systems require large amounts of high bandwidth memory (HBM) to continuously feed data to the GPU. HBM has very high profit margins, so manufacturers are devoting production, investment and technical resources to this segment. This means they are reducing their focus on conventional DRAM memory, leading to a shortage in supply for computers, servers, and mobile devices.

Besides, building new semiconductor factories and advanced memory packaging facilities takes many years and cannot be solved in the short term. In addition to pressure from AI, Samsung also faces the risk of a strike from the union, expected to start on May 21 and could worsen the company’s chip shortage.

Consumers are starting to see the impact of the crisis through product retail prices. For example, mid-range smartphones like Samsung’s Galaxy A37 and A57 have increased by several dozen dollars despite only having minor upgrades compared to the previous generation. Motorola also adjusted the price of the Razr 2026 series to more than 100 USD for the same reason.

Apple is also under great pressure. In the financial report dated April 30, CEO Tim Cook admitted that the company is having to overcome significantly higher memory costs in the second quarter of 2026, severely affecting the company’s business operations in the near future.

Specifically, the recent increase in component prices has reduced the amount of inventory that the company had previously stored. When this reserve is depleted, Apple will face expensive input costs. Tim Cook said the company is reviewing options and continues to carefully evaluate market developments. He declined to elaborate, but followed MacRumorsthis often leads to two possibilities: the company’s profit margin is narrowed, or the selling price of products such as iPhone and iPad may be adjusted to increase.

The above information contradicts analysts’ previous comments that “giants” such as Samsung and Apple have enough financial potential to withstand price increases, as well as have priority in allocating memory orders. Samsung is also one of the three largest memory chip manufacturers, along with SK Hynix and Micron, so it should be more proactive in supply.

While consumer electronics companies enter a “battle for survival”, expert Danny Williams from computer company PCSpecialist said that if memory prices do not decrease, shopping demand could go down in 2026. “Consumers have to decide whether to pay a higher price for the required performance, or accept a weaker device. Another possibility is that they will keep the old device longer,” he said.