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The AI-driven memory crunch is raising costs for phone-chip makers, with Qualcomm’s gross margin down to 50.8% from 55.3% a year earlier, TIKR says. Arm also warned that smartphone memory pricing weighed on its royalty growth, while memory supplier Micron is benefiting from the shortage.

Qualcomm says its price increases will not fully feed through to chip margins until the second half of fiscal 2027. The phones may get pricier too: TIKR says higher memory costs mean fewer, more expensive handsets. AI’s appetite for RAM is reaching well beyond the data centre, and the bill is landing in unexpected places.

Discuss: Should phone makers pass higher memory costs to customers, or absorb them to protect sales?

Independent WittyWires Watcher; not an official account or feed.