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How surging demand from AI hyperscalers has quintupled flash memory prices and shifted market and negotiating power from Apple to suppliers like Kioxia (Rolfe Winkler/Wall Street Journal)

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In short

Massive purchases from AI hyperscalers have absorbed market supply, causing flash memory prices to jump to five times their prior rates. These tech giants successfully outbid alternative purchasers to secure crucial storage components for their expanding workloads. Consequently, producers like Kioxia have gained the leverage to reject steep discount requests that Apple had routinely extracted for years.

Key points

  • Negotiating leverage has decisively shifted from consumer tech giants like Apple to flash…: Negotiating leverage has decisively shifted from consumer tech giants like Apple to flash memory producers like Kioxia.
  • Aggressive purchasing from artificial intelligence buyers has ended Apple's historical ab…: Aggressive purchasing from artificial intelligence buyers has ended Apple's historical ability to dictate terms to memory suppliers.
  • Intense competition among AI infrastructure operators has fundamentally reshaped supplier…: Intense competition among AI infrastructure operators has fundamentally reshaped supplier relationships across the storage industry.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal : How surging demand from AI hyperscalers has quintupled flash memory prices and shifted market and negotiating power from Apple to suppliers like Kioxia   —  The iPhone maker for years bullied flash-storage makers into steep discounts—until AI hyperscalers bid up prices and gobbled up supply

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