Senators Tell Apple to Drop the Chinese Memory Chips
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Apple is facing pressure from a bipartisan effort by the US Senate, urging outgoing CEO Tim Cook to commit to not using memory chips from Chinese suppliers CXMT and YMTC by August 21, according to Bloomberg.
As Apple faces ever-rising prices for memory and storage chips, it has been looking for ways to keep its device production costs down by finding other memory sources, including “blacklisted” Chinese firms CXMT and YMTC. Even though the Pentagon has designated both companies as Chinese military firms, Apple has been seeking the go-ahead from the Trump administration to purchase chips from the duo for use in products sold outside of the United States.
While Apple is not legally required to get US government consent to buy chips from CXMT, it also doesn’t want to anger the administration, possibly leading to ramifications at some point down the line.
Which is why just ahead of Apple’s recent price hikes, Cook told The Wall Street Journal that “everything needs to be on the table,” adding that “we should look at all supply.”
In the wake of that interview, multiple reports have indicated that Apple has already been working with the administration to receive its blessing to purchase chips from CXMT, and was also in negotiations to purchase chips from YMTC. The Financial Times also reported that Apple was already testing CXMT’s DRAM chips.
While the initial negotiations were for use of Chinese memory chips in China, it is also looking to use the new memory source for devices destined for outside of the Asian country, seeking the administration’s blessing to use components from CXMT and YMTC in products sold outside the US.
As iDrop News reported last week, executives from Idaho-based Micron Technology are pressuring the Trump administration to reject Apple’s request, claiming that allowing Chinese chipmakers to sell to US tech companies could “destroy the domestic industry.”
If the name Micron doesn’t ring a bell, it’s the company behind the well-known consumer memory brand, Crucial. It’s the largest manufacturer of memory in the United States, offering everything from DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to NAND flash chips and SSDs. That gives worried executives a bit of leverage when it comes to blocking sales of Chinese RAM in the US. The company tells the administration that allowing Chinese memory suppliers into Apple’s supply chain could undermine domestic memory manufacturing.
It’s not the first time Apple has explored using Chinese memory chips — a similar move in 2022 raised major alarms among Republican lawmakers. Back then, Apple reportedly explored a deal with YMTC, a supplier of NAND storage that was subsequently added to the Commerce Department’s strict Entity List, effectively banning US companies from trading with it. The plan was swiftly shelved amid pressure from US lawmakers and tighter export controls.
This time, the deal would also include ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), which manufactures DRAM. While CXMT isn’t on the Commerce Department’s Entity List like YMTC (at least not yet), both companies were reinstated to the Pentagon’s updated list of Chinese military companies in June 2026. That military designation is raising major red flags for US lawmakers, even without a formal trade ban in place for CXMT.
As reported by Bloomberg today, “[a] bipartisan group of US senators urged Apple Inc. to abandon any efforts to buy chips from blacklisted Chinese semiconductor suppliers [CXMT] and [YMTC], warning that the iPhone maker risked becoming reliant on a US adversary for crucial components.” Those lawmakers were led by Indiana Republican Jim Banks and New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, so the pressure comes from both sides of the aisle.
The lawmakers called Apple’s plan “short-sighted,” adding that it would “ensure the world’s most valuable consumer-electronics company grows dependent on critical supplies from a firm the United States government has formally designated as a Chinese military company.”
The lawmakers also argued that if other companies follow Apple’s lead, it could undermine domestic memory production, as well as planned investments in US states, including Indiana, Idaho, New York, and Virginia.
They also expressed fears that any restrictions limiting Apple’s use of CXMT memory chips to products sold in China would be unlikely to hold up, saying “once a part clears qualification for Apple production, extending it worldwide is a single procurement decision away.”
The group of lawmakers asking Apple to commit by August 21 to avoid using CXMT or YMTC chips in its products is also seeking details about any information Apple may have shared with CXMT during the component qualification process. They say that the transfer of such controlled technical information to advanced chipmaking facilities in China may require the Cupertino firm to obtain a Commerce Department license.
