Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, XETRA:APC) plans to raise prices on some of its products as surging memory and storage chip costs pressure its supply chain, CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” Cook told the publication. “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.”
Cook did not specify which Apple products could become more expensive, when price changes might take effect, or how large any increases would be.
According to Cook, demand for memory used in artificial intelligence infrastructure has tightened supply and driven up component costs. Major technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Amazon, have increased spending on AI data centers, boosting demand for specialized high-bandwidth memory and reducing availability for consumer electronics.
“There’s less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases,” Cook told the Journal. “We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That’s the bottom line.”
Cook described the current pricing environment as a “hundred-year flood” and said the volatility seen over the past six months is unprecedented in his more than four decades working in electronics supply chains.
He also indicated Apple could use its financial resources to support efforts aimed at expanding memory production capacity. “We’re willing to use our balance sheet to help be a part of the solution,” Cook said. “Obviously, more capacity is needed.”
Cook ruled out the possibility of Apple manufacturing its own memory chips, telling the newspaper, “We can’t do everything. We know what we’re good at.”
On potential changes to restrictions involving Chinese memory suppliers, Cook said, “Everything needs to be on the table. I think we should look at all supply.”
Shares of Apple opened 1% higher on Thursday, having added about 9% so far in 2026.
