Apple wants to buy memory chips from a Chinese company the Pentagon says has ties to the military. Senator Tom Cotton thinks that’s a terrible idea.
The iPhone maker is lobbying the Trump administration for permission to source chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies, better known as CXMT, a Chinese DRAM manufacturer that sits on the Pentagon’s blacklist of companies with alleged links to China’s military. The move is driven by rising memory chip prices that are squeezing Apple’s supply chain, particularly for products like Mac RAM.
A sequel nobody asked for
Back in September 2022, Cotton sent a letter directly to Tim Cook warning Apple against sourcing NAND flash chips from Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation, another Chinese chipmaker with ties to Beijing’s semiconductor ambitions. Cotton’s argument then was straightforward: YMTC was engaged in supporting China’s semiconductor initiatives and had collaborations with sanctioned entities.
Apple backed down. The company abandoned its YMTC sourcing plans under political pressure, and the episode became a case study in how Washington can muscle even the world’s most valuable company into changing its supply chain strategy overnight.
