Sources reveal that, in light of the tight supply and escalating prices of memory chips, Apple has agreed to double the unit price for NAND Flash purchases from Japan's Kioxia starting from the first quarter of this year. Subsequent adjustments will be made on a quarterly basis, contingent upon market conditions. Triggered by the soaring demand for AI data storage, market research firms have revised upwards their projections for the first-quarter contract price hikes of general NAND Flash.

The burgeoning demand and rising prices for NAND Flash have spurred significant performance growth among several leading manufacturers. Take SanDisk, for instance, which reported a staggering 672% year-over-year surge in GAAP net profit for the first quarter. Nevertheless, Kioxia previously reaped minimal benefits from the memory price upswing, as Apple was able to procure at low prices under long-term agreements. With the expiration of these contracts, Kioxia is poised to implement substantial price hikes in new contract negotiations. This move is corroborated by its performance guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, which anticipates revenue of approximately JPY 890 billion, marking a 64% increase quarter-over-quarter.