Apple Weighs Buying Chinese Memory Chips, Lobbies US for Approval

"Memory Price Surge Drives Need to Diversify Supply Chain"

Apple is actively considering buying Chinese-made memory chips as a global memory semiconductor shortage drives up production costs, the Financial Times reported.

The newspaper reported on June 26 that Apple has been lobbying the US Commerce Department and officials in President Donald Trump's administration to approve purchases of Chinese memory chips.

The Chinese chipmaker under consideration is ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT. The DRAM maker is on the US Defense Department's blacklist of Chinese military companies, known as the 1260H list, over alleged ties to the People's Liberation Army.

Apple's push comes as surging memory prices increase pressure to diversify its supply chain. The company recently raised prices across its MacBook and iPad lineup, citing higher memory costs. Apple shares fell more than 6% immediately after the announcement, wiping out $263 billion in market value, the second-largest such decline in the company's history.

Whether Apple's lobbying will succeed remains unclear because anti-China sentiment is still strong in Congress. Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on China, said it would be a serious mistake for Apple to work with a Chinese military-linked company. Such a move, he added, could help the Chinese Communist Party gain control of critical supply chains.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also opposed a similar move in 2022, when he was a senator and Apple was considering adopting memory chips from China's YMTC. At the time, he said Apple was "playing with fire."

Park Su-rim, Hankyung.com reporter paksr365@hankyung.com