![\"Apple](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/news-p.v1.20260628.e2ed9ea35cda4a9a8cc876dc78eab664_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"Apple")
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2026 China Development Forum on March 22. EPA-Yonhap<\/p>\nApple CEO Tim Cook delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2026 China Development Forum on March 22. EPA-Yonhap<\/p>\n
Apple, which raised prices amid a global semiconductor shortage, has moved to procure Chinese-made memory chips. Concerns are emerging that Apple’s purchase of Chinese chips, if realized, could mark the starting point for a shakeup in the dominance of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.<\/p>\n
According to the Financial Times on Thursday, Apple is conducting an all-out lobbying effort with the White House and the U.S. Commerce Department, asking them to approve the purchase of memory chips from Chinese DRAM maker Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT). CXMT is on the U.S. Defense Department’s “Chinese military companies” list (1260H) over suspected ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. While transactions with companies on this list are not legally prohibited, Apple is seeking the government’s prior cooperation given the significant political and reputational risks ahead.<\/p>\n
Analysts say Apple has embarked on this “venture” because soaring memory prices are increasingly squeezing costs. According to the information technology (IT) industry, the price of “LPDDR5X 12GB (gigabyte)” for smartphones surged from $77.1 in the first quarter of this year to $145.9 in the second quarter. In addition, NAND flash prices have also risen, rapidly increasing the share of memory costs in product manufacturing expenses.<\/p>\n
CXMT, by contrast, is targeting the market through aggressive capacity expansion and a low-price offensive. The company plans to expand its wafer production capacity from about 200,000 units per month currently to 300,000 units by the end of this year. Amid the recent surge in memory prices, with technology companies showing interest in Chinese semiconductors that emphasize price competitiveness, Apple’s procurement of Chinese memory is interpreted as a strategy to lower its cost burden and defend profitability.<\/p>\n
If CXMT is incorporated into Apple’s supply chain, the impact is expected to be considerable. Even if CXMT cannot fully meet Apple’s memory demand, observers say it could be used as a card to increase pricing leverage against the three global memory makers \u2014 Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Apple also considered applying NAND flash from Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) to iPhones sold in China, but withdrew the plan after encountering strong opposition from U.S. political circles. At the time, current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was the Republican vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned, “Apple is playing with fire,” adding, “If they actually procure YMTC chips, they will be subjected to a level of scrutiny from the federal government they have never experienced before.”<\/p>\n
Still, the prevailing view is that it remains unclear whether Apple can achieve its desired outcome this time. Even if the administration accepts Apple’s request, strong opposition from Congress is expected. Some analysts also say CXMT’s product prices are not as cheap as expected. John Moolenaar, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on China, criticized that “it would be a serious mistake for Apple to cooperate with a Chinese military company.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2026 China Development Forum on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[3628,33510,645,644,9454,127,276,275,18073],"class_list":["post-67557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-samsung-electronics","tag-apple","tag-chinese-memory-chips","tag-cxmt","tag-dram","tag-memory-shortage","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-electronics","tag-sk-hynix","tag-us-commerce-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}