AI's Compute Hunger Reshaping Chip Pricing Logic

Last Friday night, a friend who is a Product Director at a smartphone manufacturer sent me a message: "Qualcomm notified us that all chipsets will see price hikes starting in September, with increases in the double-digit percentage range. We did the math, and the BOM cost for flagship phones just jumped by nearly 200 RMB, and that doesn't even account for the extra licensing fees for AI compute modules." He sighed, "In this day and age, selling chips makes more money than selling phones."