US Senators Press Apple to Drop Chinese Memory Chips

Read, Watch or Listen

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook urging the company to abandon plans to purchase memory chips from Chinese suppliers ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), according to a Bloomberg report published July 30. The senators warned that Apple risked becoming reliant on a U.S. adversary for crucial components, even if the chips are used only in products sold in the Chinese market. They emphasized that CXMT and YMTC have been added to the U.S. Defense Department's recent update of the "Chinese Military Companies List." The letter demands that Apple commit by August 21 to not procure chips from these two Chinese firms. Signatories include senators from New York, Indiana, and Idaho—states where memory chip giants Micron Technology and South Korea's SK Hynix are investing billions of dollars to expand production capacity. The senators argued that an influx of Chinese memory chips could jeopardize these domestic projects. Apple has been seeking to source memory chips from China amid capacity shortages, supply constraints, and surging prices. The Financial Times reported on June 27 that Apple was lobbying the U.S. government for permission to purchase CXMT chips, having already engaged with the Commerce Department. On July 8, the FT reported that Apple had begun testing CXMT's DRAM chips for use in products sold in China. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Apple is actively lobbying to ease cost pressures through Chinese chip procurement, while Micron Technology is counter-lobbying to block the move. Analysts suggest the lobbying battle could force the U.S. government to choose between lower consumer prices and boosting domestic semiconductor production to reduce foreign dependence. Chen Jing, a researcher at the Technology and Strategy Fengyun Society, told the Global Times on July 30 that Apple is not legally prohibited from buying Chinese chips. He noted that U.S. and Sou