What's the functional difference between "I can't afford it" and "I can't get it due to a shortage"?
(Other than a convenient-for-some/inconvenient-for-others "let the richest get the stuff first!" shift, and just pretending that we are all fully independent actors instead of members of a community?)
People seem to be thinking of "affording" as merely a property of having more cash. It is more than that, it is about the potential RETURN on the investment. The businesses that can 'afford' to pay more are the ones who are going to put the chips to the most valuable use (at least in the macro sense). A company might have plenty of money, but won't pay above a certain amount for the chips because the business case they are using them for is not valuable enough.
Raising prices is a way to filter for most valuable use.
The supplier receives more money in the first of those scenarios, which (a) can be used to expand its own supply and (b) creates a demand signal for competitors to attempt to clear the barriers to entering the market.
(Other than a convenient-for-some/inconvenient-for-others "let the richest get the stuff first!" shift, and just pretending that we are all fully independent actors instead of members of a community?)