AI 需求推高儲存晶片價格 Apple 過往壓價策略遭反噬

The Wall Street Journal reported that over the past year, flash storage suppliers that had been pressured by Apple were "fighting back" against the severe shortage of memory chips caused by the construction of large-scale data centers by artificial intelligence companies. With the popularity of iPhones, Apple has become the world's largest buyer of flash memory and has a huge say in negotiations. However, the reversal of market supply and demand has changed its situation. Apple's Past Tough Procurement Tactics The report detailed the aggressive tactics employed by former procurement chief Tony Blevins. When flash memory prices fell, Apple sometimes refused to take delivery of goods it had ordered at low prices, leaving suppliers with large amounts of slow-moving chips, including products custom-made for Apple. Executives at Japan's Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory Corporation) once joked that they felt as helpless as Charlie Brown being pulled away by Lucy while playing football. Additionally, Apple allegedly forced flash memory manufacturers to open their books to monitor sales and ensure no other customers were getting better prices. Another case involves supplier Sandisk, which around late 2015 refused Apple's request to increase supply because it already had customers willing to pay higher prices. Blevins threatened a Sandisk salesperson with retaliation and threatened to make Sandisk CEO Sanjay Mehrotra "come back to Apple on his knees," according to a person familiar with the call. Other vendors such as SK Hynix and Samsung are not mentioned in this section. The AI ​​era reverses the balance of market power. With the advent of the artificial intelligence era, the situation has changed. According to estimates from research firm TechInsights, the amount of flash storage purchased by Apple two years ago was nearly twice that of Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Google combined; but now the purchase volume of hyperscalers is