The NYT and WSJ on Apple, China, and the RAM Crisis

Kalley Huang, reporting from San Francisco, and Ana Swanson, from Washington, for The New York Times (gift link): Apple, which has cited the memory chip shortage for recent price increases, is working with other consumer electronics companies to push for permission to buy memory chips from China, which faces certain restrictions, seven people said. Apple was in talks in 2022 to buy memory chips from Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation, or YMTC, but those efforts fizzled under pressure from U.S. lawmakers. Many officials appear unsympathetic to Apple’s desire to buy Chinese chips, because the company has promised for years to move more of its supply chain to the United States but has made only small steps toward that goal, four people said. Other critics of the plan said that China was also experiencing a similar chip crunch, and had proved itself to be a risky supplier when it restricted its mineral exports last year. Raffaele Huang and Rolfe Winkler, reporting for The Wall Street Journal (also a gift link): Apple has been testing memory chips from China’s CXMT across product lines including iPhones and MacBooks, according to people familiar with the matter, as the U.S. company addresses a memory crunch during the artificial-intelligence boom. Apple has held early talks with CXMT about supplying components with the goal of using them in some devices sold in China, the people said. Apple hopes to win the White House’s blessing to do business with the Chinese company. [...] Apple often tailors components to its devices to maximize performance. Using standard CXMT memory chips could force Apple to redesign certain parts of its products. Industry analysts also say CXMT’s technology still trails its foreign competitors, in part because the company’s access to the most sophisticated chip-making equipment is restricted. At present, CXMT wouldn’t be a panacea for Apple. The Chinese company has maxed out its production capacity this year, leaving little room for new international clients, the people familiar with the matter said. The gist of both reports is that just like in 2022, Apple might not get permission from the U.S. government to use Chinese RAM, even for devices sold in China. And, even if they do secure permission, it might not actually help much with the supply crunch.  ★