RAM shortage hits big tech hard, Apple to postphone new product release by months

The global tech industry is reeling from a global memory shortage that is disrupting production and forcing tech brands to postpone the release of new products.

American tech giant Apple made the list of affected companies, with the release of its latest Mac Studio and MacBook Pro reportedly postponed to October and 2027, respectively, per a Bloomberg report.

” At least two of the company’s upcoming machines …. could debut a little later than the company initially planned”, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg reported.

Gurman revealed that Apple is also dealing with another kind of shortage: an inventory shortage. The Apple Mac Studio is in short supply due to high demand from people running local AI models. The shortage is exacerbated for customers who have to wait until October to purchase the new Mac Studio, as it is still in Apple’s production pipeline.

The latest MacBook Pro is also affected, with customers having to wait till the end of 2026 or early 2027 to purchase. The new MacBook Pro is highly anticipated and will come with a touchscreen for the first time.

Despite the memory shortage crisis affecting all laptop makers, Apple is leveraging the successful launch of its MacBook Neo to drive sales where others are currently stalling.

Manufacturers Shift to AI Infrastructure Driving Global Shortage

The global memory shortage extends beyond a temporary supply chain challenge and is rather a more defined structural crisis. It is a permanent shift in how the world’s silicon capacity is being used.

The root cause is a massive, industry-wide pivot toward Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure. This has cannibalised the production lines for everyday consumer electronics. The AI infrastructure market is booming, taking the full attention of manufacturers and leaving little supplies for traditional consumer electronics.

The biggest driver of the memory shortage is the explosive demand for High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM). This specialised memory is required by Nvidia and other GPU makers to power AI models. Major manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have reallocated their limited capacity away from standard memory used in phones/PCs and toward high-margin HBM.

At press time, Major memory producers have reportedly already sold out their entire HBM production capacity through the end of the year.

The shift in attention to AI infrastructure by major manufacturers presents a market-entry opportunity for new players looking to serve the Mobile and PC markets exclusively.

Last updated: April 20, 2026