The Wall Street Journal reports that Micron is pressing the Trump administration to block Apple’s push to use memory chips from Chinese suppliers. Here are the details.
Apple’s Chinese chip plan would extend beyond China
Last month, just before Apple hiked prices for several of its products due to the ongoing memory shortage, Tim Cook gave an interview to The Wall Street Journal, where he suggested that the US should reconsider its decision to restrict access to certain Chinese suppliers.
In the days that followed, the Journal reported that Apple had already been seeking clearance from the administration to purchase chips from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT). At the same time, the Financial Times said Apple was in negotiations to purchase chips from Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC). The FT would go on to claim Apple was already testing DRAM chips from CXMT.
For context, CXMT and YMTC have been designated as Chinese military companies by the Pentagon, and YMTC is also on the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
