Elon Musk Backs Tim Cook's AI Chip Warning, Says Memory Prices Have Seen The 'Biggest Price Jump' Ever

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently described the ongoing global memory shortage as a "hundred-year flood," admitting he had "never seen anything like it in over 40 years." Now, Trillionaire Elon Musk has echoed that concern, saying the spike in memory prices is the "biggest price jump in anything I've ever seen." Here's everything you need to know about why some of the world's biggest technology leaders are sounding the alarm over AI-driven chip shortages and how it is already making gadgets more expensive.AI Boom Driving Memory PricesThe AI race is no longer just about building smarter chatbots. It's also creating an unprecedented demand for memory chips. As hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon continue investing hundreds of billions

of dollars in AI data centres, manufacturers are prioritising high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI servers over conventional DRAM and NAND chips found in consumer devices.The result has been a sharp increase in memory prices. According to industry estimates, DRAM and NAND costs have surged several-fold over the past year, pushing up manufacturing costs for laptops, tablets, gaming consoles and other electronics.Apple has already started passing some of those costs on to customers. The Cupertino-based tech giant recently increased prices across several MacBook, iPad, Apple TV and HomePod models. The company said it had absorbed higher component costs for as long as possible before deciding to revise prices.Elon Musk Says Production Must IncreaseResponding to the growing crisis on X, Tesla chief Elon Musk agreed with Tim Cook's assessment, writing that the memory shortage represents the "biggest price jump in anything I've ever seen."Musk also warned that current production is nowhere near enough to satisfy demand. "The production shortfall relative to demand is insane. MUCH higher production is needed," he said.The shortage has already begun affecting multiple industries. Besides Apple's recent price hikes, Microsoft has also announced that Xbox console prices will increase by $100 to $150 from August 1, citing higher component costs.To reduce future supply constraints, Musk recently announced the Tesla Terafab project alongside SpaceX and Intel. The multibillion-dollar initiative aims to build an advanced semiconductor facility capable of producing logic chips, memory and advanced packaging under one roof.