Micron chief business officer Sumit Sadana told WSJ that aggressive pricing from some customers, implicitly Apple, left Micron unable to fund capacity expansion during last downturn, forcing many 2023 investments to stall. He said the pressure created “poor pricing and poor margins,” contributing to today’s memory shortage. Those halted projects included new DRAM lines that would have supported next‑gen smartphones and laptops.

Apple unveiled sweeping price hikes across Macs, iPads, Apple TV, HomePod and Vision Pro, sparing only iPhone, Watch and AirPods. The adjustments triggered a 6% drop in Apple’s stock, erasing roughly $265 billion in market value—the worst single‑day slide in over a year. Tim Cook had warned a week earlier that memory and storage costs were squeezing the company, likening the shortage to a “hundred‑year flood.”

Sadana’s remarks underscore how Apple’s long‑term purchasing contracts can pressure suppliers into tighter margins, limiting their ability to expand capacity when demand spikes. With AI servers hoarding high‑bandwidth DRAM, the supply crunch forces OEMs like Apple to pass costs onto consumers. The episode highlights the fragile balance between aggressive pricing strategies and the health of the broader memory ecosystem.