The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that soaring prices for memory and storage components have turned companies such as Sandisk, Micron Technology and Western Digital into the hottest stocks in the market over the past year. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says, however, they are causing headaches for many of their customers. Hardware companies from Apple to HP are under pressure, as their need for expensive memory components becomes an investing risk -- one that is not expected to reverse any time soon. "They're in a tough position," said Rob Thummel at Tortoise Capital, which runs an exchange-traded fund dedicated to artifical-intelligence infrastructure. "They basically have two options: They can take a hit to margins, which the market won't like. Or they can raise prices to offset the higher memory costs, running the risk of hurting demand." The surging demand for memory has contributed to what the technology research firm IDC calls "an unprecedented memory chip shortage," which it sees as a "crisis" for device manufacturers as supply shortages lead to skyrocketing prices for the chips. Apple shares rose just 8.6 per cent in 2025, and they are down 4.2 per cent to start this year.