AI flash demand reportedly shifts bargaining power from Apple to suppliers

AI hyperscalers are bidding up flash-storage prices and buying up supply, shifting bargaining power away from Apple and toward flash-storage makers, Rolfe Winkler reported Oct. 28, 2026, in The Wall Street Journal. For years, the Journal says, Apple used its position as the world’s biggest flash buyer to press suppliers for steep discounts.

One of those suppliers is Japan-based Kioxia. Its sales executive Scott Nelson sold flash storage to Apple when Kioxia had little leverage, the Journal reports. Apple also pushed flash makers to open their books so it could check whether other customers were getting better deals. Flash chips store photos, music and apps in iPhones.

The Journal portrays the rise in AI buying as a reversal for suppliers such as Kioxia. That reported shift in bargaining power does not, on its own, establish what terms Kioxia now gets from Apple.