Ram famine forces spanish maker to kill promos, hike tags
SPC has already pulled every discount on its phones, tablets and watches. The reason: AI servers are gulping the same memory chips that used to land in a 99 € Android tablet, and the Alava-based manufacturer sees no point in subsidising a part it now pays 60 % more for.
Teresa acha-orbea draws the line
“We front-loaded inventory, but the buffer runs out in weeks,” CEO Teresa Acha-Orbea told Computer Hoy on the sidelines of MWC 2026. The 39-year-old brand, once synonymous with landlines, now ships everything from 4G dumbphones to smartwatches for seniors. Every SKU, she admits, is bleeding margin.
Nothing’s Carl Pei issued a similar warning last month. Off the record, other OEMs whisper the same maths: a 4 GB LPDDR5 module that cost $14 in December now trades at $22. Multiply that by the bill-of-materials on a sub-€150 device and the profit vaporises.
Cheap gadgets become collateral damage
Low-end hardware lives or dies on a five-euro spread. SPC’s 10-inch Android slate jumped overnight from €99 to €159; the company’s 4G feature phone will climb from €49 to €69 once current stock clears. “The entry tier will feel the punch hardest,” Acha-Orbea predicts.
Analysts agree. Canalys and IDC both forecast a 12–15 % unit drop in 2026 consumer electronics sales, the steepest annual decline on record. Chinese fabs, meanwhile, are quietly trimming forecasts; profitability now trumps volume.
Iran war seals the air lanes
Memory is only half the headache. Since Tehran’s 28 February missile exchange with U.S. and Israeli forces, Middle-Eastern airspace has closed in patches. High-value electronics fly cargo jets, not container ships. “For several weeks there will be no air freight,” Acha-Orbea notes. The Strait of Hormuz blockade that followed has now throttled sea lanes as well.
Relief hinges on two wildcards
Fresh Chinese wafer lines could ramp in late 2027, and AI engineers are racing to compress models so they crave fewer gigabytes per query. If both trends collide, RAM spot prices might crack by 2028. Until then, sticker shock is the new normal.
SPC’s message to retailers is blunt: promotions are dead, and the race to the bottom ends now. The company that started with rotary dials is dialing back the discount era—because the silicon that once fed gadgets now feeds data centres, and the bill has come due.