Apple is stockpiling inventory as it braces for what outgoing CEO Tim Cook calls a 'hundred-year flood' in memory pricing, driven by surging demand from the generative AI boom. The hardware giant reported its strongest June quarter ever, with iPhone and Mac sales growing 22% and 29% year-over-year, yet the company now confronts a severe shortage of advanced memory nodes. Main Developments Apple's biggest challenge is securing the advanced memory nodes used in its Apple silicon chips, which power the A-Series and M-Series processors in iPhones and Macs. The company described this supply constraint as 'RAMageddon,' warning it will worsen as AI hardware demand continues to escalate. Background Memory pricing has historically fluctuated with market cycles, but the generative AI boom has created unprecedented demand for high-bandwidth memory used in AI training and inference. This has spilled over into consumer hardware, squeezing supply for traditional memory components. Read also: AI hedge fund keeps Anthropic stake after public selloff to Citadel Why It Matters For consumers, the memory shortage could mean higher prices or delayed availability for new iPhones and MacBooks. For Apple, it threatens to erode profit margins on its best-selling products just as the company posts record quarterly results. What's Next Apple is stockpiling inventory to mitigate near-term disruptions, but the company has not disclosed how long the shortage may last. Analysts expect Apple to negotiate long-term supply agreements with memory manufacturers to secure future production.