Overview
- A detailed report summarized accounts that Apple used high-pressure negotiation methods to push down DRAM and NAND prices, including late-night sessions and scheduling rival suppliers to meet one another.
- Apple is said to have required 'most-favored' customer status and carried out frequent, wide-ranging audits of suppliers to monitor operations and enforce pricing terms.
- The company reportedly refused some deliveries when market prices dropped, leaving suppliers with excess stock they had to sell at low prices and straining supplier margins.
- Apple used contract clauses to bring arbitration against Micron over lower-priced sales to other customers and reportedly won a large compensation award in that dispute.
- Industry advisers say recent multi-year capacity constraints and rising memory prices have shifted bargaining power back to suppliers, which could lead to firmer prices and more public pushback from manufacturers.