Apple price hikes trigger tech stock selloff on chip cost fears

What happened

Apple raised prices 15–25% on Mac and iPad models, citing higher memory and storage costs. MacBook Air rose $200 to $1,299, MacBook Pro climbed $300 to $1,999, and iPad Air rose $150 to $749. The move erased roughly $250 billion（約40兆円） in Apple's market value. U.S. chip stocks fell sharply in premarket trading: On Semiconductor dropped as much as 11.6%, Micron slid around 3.5%, and AMD and Intel each fell about 2.8%.

Why it matters

Apple's move signals that rising component costs are starting to pinch the tech sector itself, not just chip suppliers. This potentially dampens enthusiasm over AI-driven growth, which had been driving investment in semiconductor stocks. Investors worry that if major tech companies face higher input costs and need bigger capital spending, they may become more selective about AI spending — a shift that could weaken demand across the entire chip ecosystem.

What to watch

Asian markets also declined sharply on the same day: China's CSI 300 closed 3% lower, South Korea's KOSPI tumbled 5.8%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 1.8% to a fresh one-year low, dragged down by AI-related shares. Analysts also cited month-end and quarter-end rebalancing flows as a contributing factor to the selloff in large-cap technology names.