Micron Technology shares fell in trading Friday after Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said during the iPhone maker’s earnings call that he wants more memory suppliers, signaling that one of the industry’s biggest buyers is pushing back against a surge in memory prices that has squeezed Apple and Amazon alike.
Cook’s comments weighed on Micron even as Wall Street digested a mixed round of megacap earnings. Apple reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $109.42 billion, ahead of the $108.65 billion consensus compiled by LSEG, but its shares still fell about 9% after the company guided to revenue growth of 9% to 11% for the current quarter, below the 12% that analysts had expected.
The tension between Apple and Micron highlights how the AI-driven memory shortage is reshaping the economics of the industry’s largest buyers and sellers. Cook has described the surge in memory prices as a “100-year flood” and said Apple paid more for memory in the June quarter than in March, with another increase expected in the September quarter. He said Apple is “evaluating all options” for sourcing, comments that investors read as a direct challenge to Micron’s pricing power.
That search for alternatives is the problem for Micron. The Boise, Idaho-based company has been a primary beneficiary of the memory upcycle, with record revenue and expectations that DRAM and NAND shortages will persist well beyond 2027. If Apple succeeds in diversifying its supplier base or redesigning products around different components, Micron’s ability to sustain elevated prices could weaken, analysts said.
Apple’s finance chief, Kevan Parekh, said supply constraints for components are holding growth back and could particularly hit iPhone revenue. JPMorgan analysts said high memory costs and supply constraints are overshadowing the good news in Apple’s report, while Barclays analyst Tim Long wrote that Apple “has used most of its lower-priced inventory and is not as prioritized in the supply chain as previous cycles.”
Amazon is feeling the same pressure. The e-commerce and cloud giant, which delivered blowout results on Thursday night, raised its 2026 capital spending plan to about $220 billion, with higher memory costs among the drivers, according to CNBC. Apple and Amazon are both being hurt by higher memory prices, MarketWatch reported.
The memory crunch has also drawn political attention in Washington. US senators sent an open letter to Cook urging Apple to abandon efforts to source memory chips from Chinese suppliers, while the administration has been caught between Apple and Micron in a fight over Chinese chip imports. The standoff complicates Apple’s search for alternatives at the very moment it wants to reduce reliance on any single supplier.
For investors, the episode tests whether memory pricing can stay at boom levels. Cook’s remarks suggest the largest buyers will fight back, which could cap further price increases even as producers remain cautious about adding capacity. Micron shares had been among the strongest performers of the AI trade this year, making Friday’s pullback a notable reversal of sentiment.
Sources: MarketWatch, CNBC, Invezz
Author: Finance Desk
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