AI data centres drive MacBook shortages in Denmark

MacBook shortages are affecting Danish retailers as AI data centres compete for the memory chips used in the computers, DR reports.

Stores including Power and Elgiganten are struggling to receive supplies, according to Marcel Mirzaei-Fard, DR’s technology analyst and host of the Prompt technology podcast.

“When a single component is missing, it is simply impossible to assemble a finished computer,” he said.

AI data centres take priority

Demand for memory chips has risen sharply as data centres expand around the world, including in Denmark. These facilities use large quantities of the same chips as personal computers.

Mirzaei-Fard said chip production could not be increased quickly because expanding capacity takes time and costs a great deal of money. In the meantime, manufacturers are selling their available supplies to the highest bidders, which currently include AI data centres.

Power Denmark chief executive Jan Boysen said Apple had told the retailer it could not deliver some of the batches that had been ordered. This has left the company unable to meet some customers’ expectations, he said.

Henrik Eriksen, Elgiganten’s head of sales for computing and gaming, told Politiken that other computer manufacturers were also experiencing supply problems, although their situation was not as severe.

“We will probably have to get into 2027 before supply and demand are balanced,” Eriksen said.

Apple’s computer prices have also risen sharply as supply problems have intensified. The company did not comment to DR, but said in a statement two months ago that the boom in artificial intelligence was driving prices higher.

“The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centres has created an extraordinary increase in demand for memory and storage,” Apple said.

Mirzaei-Fard said Apple might be able to secure supplies through large agreements, but that even one of the world’s most valuable companies could not control the global crisis. Longer delivery times and higher costs could mean that Apple sells fewer computers, he said.

At Power, customers who pre-order products are being prioritised over those who come into the stores without an order, Boysen said.

Mirzaei-Fard said the shelves would not remain empty indefinitely, but warned that customers might have to wait. Several analysts believe the market will not fully settle until sometime next year.