RAM Crisis: Apple Turns to a Chinese Supplier Unfavored by the Pentagon
RAM Crisis: Apple Turns to a Chinese Supplier Unfavored by the Pentagon
Apple has asked the Trump administration for guarantees that would allow it to source memory chips from CXMT, the largest Chinese DRAM producer, which has ended up on the Pentagon's blacklist due to alleged links with the Beijing military. The pressure, exerted on the Department of Commerce and other officials, aims to mitigate a memory crisis that has already forced Cupertino to raise prices on nearly its entire range.
Purchasing from CXMT is already legal: the designation in the 1260H list of the Department of Defense limits military contracts but does not restrict transactions between private businesses. What Apple wants is the assurance that CXMT will not be added to the Entity List of the Commerce Department, a separate designation that would impose licensing requirements and effectively block the supply. The company contacted the Department of Commerce for the first time over a month ago.
Memory Prices Quadrupled
Memory prices have quadrupled in the last nine months, according to Counterpoint Research, because Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, Apple’s current suppliers, have shifted production capacity from consumer DRAM to HBM memory intended for AI data centers. The pressure on costs has had direct effects: as we know, in recent days Apple has raised the prices of Macs, iPads, home devices, and the Vision Pro by amounts ranging from 100 to 500 dollars/euros per product. The 13-inch MacBook Air has increased from 1,249 to 1,449 euros, the 16-inch MacBook Pro from 3,099 to 3,499 dollars, and the Vision Pro has risen by 500 dollars. On the same day, Apple’s stock dropped by over 6%, marking the worst decline in a single session since April 2025.
A Blacklist that Doesn't Ban Purchases
As I mentioned, there is a distinction between the 1260H list and the Entity List: in February, the Pentagon had temporarily removed CXMT and YMTC from the 1260H, only to cancel the update after criticism from anti-China hawks in Congress; both companies were reinstated in June, in an update that brought the list to 188 entities, also adding Alibaba, Baidu, and BYD. Meanwhile, CXMT already supplies DDR5 memory to Western companies, including Corsair, at prices lower than the three major producers.
However, the green light will have to face Congress.
John Moolenaar, chairman of the House committee on China, told the Financial Times that for Apple to choose to ally with a Chinese military company would be a grave mistake: helping the Chinese Communist Party dominate critical supply chains, he added, would make the U.S. tech industry and economy more dependent on China, especially when it is necessary to build secure supplies with allies.
Apple declined to comment and the White House did not respond. CXMT was already a candidate for inclusion on the Entity List, with the addition postponed while the White House negotiated with Beijing on trade issues: thus, the guarantee Cupertino seeks depends on a negotiating balance that can shift quickly.