Apple has an idea for the crisis. It is the love affair with China

According to Chinese media reports, Apple is considering establishing cooperation with local memory producers – CXMT and YMTC. Not only smartphones but also computers are involved. The reason is prosaic: money. Global NAND and DRAM shortages have caused existing suppliers such as Samsung, SK hynix and Kioxia to raise prices.

CXMT offers LPDDR5X and DDR5 chips, exactly the standards that are crucial for Apple today. The Chinese manufacturer offers modules with capacities of 12 Gb and 16 Gb, which makes them potentially attractive for both smartphones and computers.

The issue of mass storage is even more interesting. YMTC is already producing the 5th generation of 3D NAND chips. We are talking about structures with 294 layers, of which 232 are active layers. The recording density is 19.8 Gb/mm². And this is a level very close to the leading NAND producers from South Korea, Japan and the United States.

Why wasn’t this decided earlier? Because both CXMT and YMTC were on the list of restricted entities. However, according to the latest decision of the US Bureau of Industry and Security, both companies were removed from it. This opens the way to official cooperation without the risk of export sanctions from the American administration.

If Apple actually decides to cooperate with Chinese suppliers, it could clearly change the balance of power in the memory market. For the Cupertino giant, this would be a way to reduce costs and be more flexible in negotiations. For existing partners – a signal that domination in the supply chain will not last forever.