How artificial intelligence skyrocketed memory prices and changed Apple's position

An in-depth look at how a 550% surge in flash memory prices since 2023 is reshaping hardware economics, shifting supplier leverage away from Apple as cloud giants scale up component purchases. According to TechInsights, flash memory prices have risen about 550% since their 2023 lows, topping 30 cents per gigabyte by some estimates.

深入探讨自 2023 年以来闪存价格 550% 的飙升如何重塑硬件经济，随着云巨头扩大组件采购规模，供应商的议价权正从苹果公司手中转移。据 TechInsights 数据显示，闪存价格自 2023 年低点以来已上涨约 550%，据估计每千兆字节价格已超过 30 美分。

That same year, the industry posted an operating loss of $19 billion, while Apple made $14 billion in gross profit from selling additional storage on its devices, charging significant amounts for capacity upgrades that cost it little. Two years ago, Apple was buying almost twice as much memory as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google combined.

同年，该行业出现了 190 亿美元的营业亏损，而苹果公司通过销售设备额外存储空间获得了 140 亿美元的毛利润，其容量升级的成本极低，却收取了高昂的费用。两年前，苹果公司的内存采购量几乎是微软、亚马逊、Meta 和谷歌总和的两倍。

Today, the picture has completely reversed. The four tech giants are buying twice as much from Apple, expanding their infrastructure, and entering into long-term supply contracts with manufacturers like Japan’s Kioxia. Companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon have more flexibility in absorbing increased costs, as memory is a smaller percentage of a data center’s total investment and the costs can be spread over time.

如今，情况已完全逆转。这四家科技巨头的采购量是苹果的两倍，它们正在扩张基础设施，并与日本铠侠（Kioxia）等制造商签订长期供应合同。像 Meta、微软和亚马逊这样的公司在消化成本上涨方面拥有更大的灵活性，因为内存占数据中心总投资的比例较小，且成本可以分摊到较长的时间周期内。

As a result of this shift, Apple’s annual spending on flash memory is estimated to increase from about $6 billion in 2025 to $25 billion in 2026. The increased cost is limiting the profit margin from memory upgrades in iPhones, as happened with the move from 256 to 512 gigabytes, where the cost to the company rose significantly from $15 in 2025 to $66 in 2026.

由于这种转变，苹果公司在闪存上的年度支出预计将从 2025 年的约 60 亿美元增加到 2026 年的 250 亿美元。成本的增加限制了 iPhone 内存升级的利润空间，例如从 256GB 升级到 512GB 的情况，公司承担的成本从 2025 年的 15 美元大幅上升至 2026 年的 66 美元。

This pressure has led to price increases across almost all of Apple’s product lineup, with CEO Tim Cook likening the sharp price increase to a catastrophic natural phenomenon. In the past, Apple has used its massive order volume to impose strict terms, control supplier finances, and avoid firm delivery commitments.

这种压力导致苹果几乎所有产品线都出现了价格上涨，首席执行官蒂姆·库克将这种剧烈的价格上涨比作一场灾难性的自然现象。过去，苹果曾利用其庞大的订单量来强加严苛条款、控制供应商财务并避免做出确定的交付承诺。

Now, the question remains whether the company can redefine its position in the supply chain, or whether the market has been permanently changed by the impact of artificial intelligence.

现在，问题依然存在：苹果公司是否能够重新定义其在供应链中的地位，还是说市场已经因人工智能的影响而发生了永久性的改变。