Micron Implicates Apple in Current Memory Supply Shortage
Micron suggests that Apple is responsible for the current memory supply shortage due to its accumulation of memory at extremely low prices during a low-price cycle, which has led to Micron's gross profit even turning negative.
Micron states that some customers are pricing aggressively, suppressing capital investment, and that multiple projects have been halted in 2023, resulting in current capacity not keeping up with demand.
In market dynamics, large memory procurement customers and suppliers have become the main players in the game, with event-driven capital flowing towards memory capacity expansion projects, benefiting suppliers who invest actively and non-aggressive purchasers, while stockpilers face pressure.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Micron has previously experienced multiple price fluctuations in the memory cycle, and this accusation continues the historical behavior of large customers' procurement strategies affecting upstream investment in the supply chain. Earlier similar DRAM cycle investment stagnation reflects the path of capital expenditure and demand forecasting.
In terms of capital pathways, large customers like Apple stockpiling at low prices compress supplier profits, with strategic motives for cost control, but this leads to insufficient upstream investment, shifting resources from short-term procurement to long-term capacity construction.
Similar to other semiconductor supply chain cycle cases, Micron is currently in a phase of transitioning from a low point in the memory industry to a supply-tight situation, with aggressive pricing becoming a core factor in capacity bottlenecks.
Essentially, this is about capital concentration, where large customers' stockpiling behavior reshapes investment incentives in the supply chain, with the mechanism being that low-price cycles suppress capital expenditure leading to subsequent shortages, shifting pricing power from purchasers to suppliers with stable capacity, and driving the memory industry chain towards long-term contracts and capacity synergy reconstruction.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
Supply Chain Resilience = Procurement Strategy × Capital Cycle × Demand Forecast
Large customers sell costs, small suppliers sell capacity; those who stockpile at low prices create subsequent shortages.
The lower the price, the less the investment; the counterintuitive aspect is that aggressive procurement accelerates industry capital concentration and amplifies volatility.