Daily Earnings: The zero-sum hardware margin war (AAPL, SNDK, CAT) | Apr 30

The AI infrastructure boom is fundamentally shifting supply chain dynamics, allowing upstream component and power providers to dictate structural terms and capture record profits at the expense of consumer-facing brands.• SanDisk (SNDK) is utilizing bank-guaranteed long-term contracts to extract massive memory margins from hyperscalers.• Apple (AAPL) faces immediate gross margin compression as these upstream storage component costs aggressively spike.• Caterpillar (CAT) is effectively serving as digital infrastructure by selling heavy industrial generators to power-starved data centers.Physical constraints and raw hardware scarcity are officially becoming the primary bottlenecks restricting downstream profitability.