On February 5th, Qualcomm and Arm's stock prices plummeted by over 8% after releasing their quarterly financial reports, primarily due to market concerns that the shortage of storage chips will curb growth in the electronics industry. Qualcomm is the largest manufacturer of smartphone processors, while Arm primarily relies on patent royalties from the mobile phone industry. Both companies' management teams have stated that supply constraints for storage chips will limit mobile phone production. Currently, the large-scale expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure has triggered a shortage of storage chips, as these components help computers manage data. Manufacturers are concentrating their production capacity on supplying AI data centers, resulting in insufficient capacity for mobile phone components. This will lead to a reduction in the number of products available to consumers and higher prices. Additionally, other companies have also issued warnings about the storage chip shortage. MediaTek stated during a conference call this week that the situation is "evolving," while Intel's CEO suggested that the shortage may persist for several years, with suppliers indicating that the situation will not improve until 2028.
