A growing shortage of memory chips is beginning to ripple through the electronics sector, raising concerns that consumers could face higher prices for everything from smartphones to gaming consoles.

The crunch is being driven by a surge in demand for computing hardware used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications, particularly data centres.

Industry groups representing automakers, retailers, and electronics companies have already warned that increasing demand for memory chips could disrupt supply chains.

Apple is among the companies feeling the pressure. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, CEO Tim Cook said that price increases are unavoidable.

“We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable,” he said.

Cook did not specify when price increases would take effect, how much products could rise by, or which devices would be affected.

However, he noted that memory suppliers are passing on significant cost increases at a time when demand for consumer electronics remains strong.

“There’s less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases,” he added.

Industry analyst Jason Zhang tells Reuters that memory prices are likely to continue climbing due to ongoing supply constraints and production challenges at major chipmakers.

“Memory chip prices are expected to continue rising in the near term,” Zhang said, adding that manufacturers may increasingly pass those costs on to consumers.

The impact is already visible in retail.

Earlier this year, Sony announced global price increases for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal, citing broader economic pressures and rising costs.

Computer maker Dell Technologies has also acknowledged that fluctuating component costs are forcing frequent pricing adjustments. The company said it is operating at a “high level of proficiency” in changing prices as input costs move rapidly.

Chipmakers, including Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics, are facing similar challenges as demand rises for high-capacity memory used in AI infrastructure, smartphones, and automotive systems.

Professor George Buchanan, deputy dean of research at RMIT University’s School of Computing Technologies, said the current situation reflects an unprecedented race among AI companies to secure computing hardware.

“Almost every component of laptops or mobile phones has risen sharply, particularly memory, processors, graphics cards, and hard drives, due to AI businesses such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic desperately buying increasingly large volumes of computing hardware,” Buchanan said.

“While production has risen, the component manufacturers can only increase capacity over the years, not months. The world’s computer memory production for the whole year sold out before March, graphics cards in February, and hard drive storage before April.”

Buchanan said consumers should expect the effects to spread well beyond premium technology brands.

“Your Christmas technology gift, phone, laptop, or iPad is going to be a lot more expensive, whatever the brand,” he concluded.

• Further reading: Can Siri 2.0 put Apple back in the AI race?