AOC Calls for Apple Breakup as MacBook, iPhone Prices Climb

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is putting Apple in the antitrust crosshairs. In a conversation with Fox News, AOC said Congress should consider breaking up technology giants such as Apple, arguing they wield excessive power while consumers bear the rising costs of the AI boom, saying lawmakers need to break up companies that are “far, far too big” and institute consumer protections.

What triggered the call

Citing memory chip shortages, Apple jacked up prices last week on a handful of MacBooks and iPads, in some cases by $200 or more, with increases of about 15% to 20% for Macs and 15% to 25% for iPads. CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal that the hikes were “unavoidable,” pointing to the rapid expansion of AI data centers driving an extraordinary surge in global demand for memory and storage.

Apple has also warned that ongoing pressure on the semiconductor supply chain could force it to raise prices on iPhones and Macs, with Cook saying the company has tried to absorb higher component costs but may no longer be able to do so.

Market reaction

AAPL shares dropped 6% in their biggest slide since 2025 as Apple raised Mac and iPad prices to battle surging AI memory costs. The stock fell from about $301 at the start of last week to $283.78 by week’s end, though it remains the second most valuable company with a market cap of $4.17 trillion.

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The political angle

Ocasio-Cortez says it is time for the federal government to use antitrust laws to break up major tech giants like Apple, arguing that massive tech corporations are acting outside the bounds of standard corporate behavior while raising prices on consumers who are already struggling.

Ocasio-Cortez has also backed legislation with Sen. Bernie Sanders to impose a moratorium on the development of AI data centers, signaling this is part of a broader pushback against the AI buildout. She also said the CHIPS Act was passed before the AI boom, so it wasn’t designed to anticipate the huge amount of supply that data centers are absorbing.

RAM-ageddon is bigger than Apple

Most analysts believe the so-called “RAM-ageddon” crisis is a result of the rapid build-out of data centers to power artificial intelligence, which has turbocharged demand for memory chips. Last week, Microsoft also raised Xbox prices, saying memory costs driven higher by the AI boom are making gaming hardware significantly more expensive.

Some experts, including Apple analyst Mark Gurman, have argued the price hikes are a “new normal” for Apple and likely to stay even after the memory chip crunch is resolved.

Options market and stocks to watch

Watch AAPL for follow-through after last week’s drop, with headline risk now stretching from supply chain commentary to Washington antitrust chatter.

Watch MU and memory peers as the RAM shortage narrative reprices end-market demand, and watch MSFT after its own Xbox price hike tied to memory costs.

Watch NVDA as the data-center demand pulling memory away from consumer devices is the same demand fueling AI accelerator orders, and GOOGL as another Big Tech name routinely cited in antitrust talk. For more, see other market news.

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