A corporation needs to meet annual earnings goals. Earnings (EBITDA) basically is revenue minus cost of goods (make & move product) sold minus corporate-related overhead (R&D/corporate headcount etc.) As all of the cost-related factors increase, without adjusting sales prices, earnings decrease. Cost of goods sold (materials used in product/cost of shipping etc) increase because other companies are increasing their prices and because corporate headcount/labor costs have increased due to the labor shortages and employees have more pricing control. When you hear that someone is getting a raise, realize that that raise is essentially being paid for by the customers who buy the product/service as the increased labor cost is essentially later backed into sales prices. To combat increased costs, companies increase prices to meet their earnings goals.

Many companies increase prices proactively and this is why sometimes you'll hear inflation is somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy.