"This Time Is Different"

That day, the news was brief. Apple announced.
Global price increases for products like Mac and iPad.
The reason was simple: memory and storage were just too expensive.

No one thought it was a big deal.
After all, Apple was already expensive.
A small price hike seemed normal.

The next day, Microsoft announced an Xbox price hike, citing the exact same reason.
On the third day, the South Korean President stood at the podium, with Samsung and SK Hynix behind him.
He said, "This is a new milestone for South Korea's semiconductor industry."
A new super-fab.
A new investment plan.
The applause went on for a long time.
Camera flashes never stopped.

That day, AI concept stocks surged.
Analysts rushed to raise their target prices overnight.
New research reports kept coming out,
New forecasts kept being updated.
It felt like the future was appreciating in value every single day.

In Tokyo, camera lenses got more expensive.
A customer asked why.
The shop owner said, "Chips are more expensive now."
In Seoul, cosmetic surgery packages went up in price.
A client asked, "Why is beauty getting more expensive too?"
The owner smiled, "New equipment, all filled with new chips."

In Singapore, a cloud service company sent an email.
Just one line: Price adjustment due to infrastructure cost changes.

Later, even the beef pho at a street corner in Hanoi got more expensive.
A regular customer was stunned: "Because beef prices went up again?"
The owner shook his head, "No."
"My son started university."
"His computer was too old."
"Bought a new one."
"It's a lot more expensive than last year."
The owner smiled as he gave change; the customer gave a wry smile.

In Seoul, an office worker sold her gold bracelet, part of her dowry.
She used all the money to buy into a semiconductor ETF. She didn't know what HBM was.
She didn't know what a GPU was either. She only knew
the TV kept saying, "You can't miss out on AI."

In a cafe, someone said:
"The internet bubble."
"The real estate bubble."
"But AI is a truly disruptive innovation."
The person next to them nodded.
"So."
"This time is different."

Later
Gaming subscriptions went up.
Office software went up.
Cloud storage went up.
Headphones went up.
Monitors went up.
Hotels went up.
Medicine prices went up.
Everything
had its own reason.
Every reason
sounded perfectly logical.

Until one day
a young man opened Doubao.
A line of text popped up on the screen:
"Membership service is about to be upgraded."
He looked at it for a while.
Closed it.
Opened another AI.
A few days later,
that AI
also started charging.

The young man stayed silent for a long time.
Clicked on settings.
Found the app.
A prompt popped up on the screen:
"Confirm deletion?"
He tapped
Confirm.

The next day, the data curve in the backend.
For the first time, it didn't grow.
The third day, it started to fall.
The fourth day, in a meeting room.
Someone said softly, "The new data center..."
"Let's hold off for now."
The meeting room was quiet for a long time. No one objected.

A week later, new GPU orders were canceled.
Two weeks later, new server orders were canceled.
A month later, storage started getting cheaper.
Later still,
optical modules got cheaper,
switches got cheaper,
GPUs got cheaper.
Warehouses got fuller and fuller.
Orders got fewer and fewer.

In Seoul, the woman who sold her gold bracelet.
Posted a line on a forum:
"Does anyone know when it will rebound?"
A long time later,
someone finally replied.
Only three words:
"Who's going to buy?"

The stock market opened.
A sea of red.
The TV kept repeating:
"Normal adjustment."
"Fundamentals unchanged."
"A necessary process for long-term positive growth."
In the trading hall, no one spoke.
No one knew
who exactly
pressed the pause button first.

Many years later,
someone stumbled upon an old news article.
The headline was short:
"Apple Announces Global Price Hike."
No one knows
if that was the first domino to fall.

But people who came later remember
that year,
the whole world
was rushing to buy the future.
Later,
the future went on sale.