Apple is considering introducing domestically supplied memory chips for products sold in China amid a global memory shortage caused by generative AI. This plan was recently opposed by a number of U.S. senators who signed a letter. Senators are worried that once Apple purchases chips from Chinese storage companies that have been blacklisted by the United States, it will not only trigger other companies to follow suit, but may also pose national security risks and accelerate a new round of outflows from the U.S. semiconductor industry.
The “hype cycle” surrounding generative AI, which is essentially the natural evolution of advanced auto-completion technology, has significantly disrupted the global economy and supply chains. In order to support the explosive demand for data center construction, the industry's competition for memory and various components has triggered global shortages, and Apple is also under tremendous pressure. Against this background, Apple has sought to relieve pressure through Chinese suppliers, including extending an olive branch to companies that have been blacklisted by the United States.
According to reports, Apple has officially proposed to purchase chips from Hefei ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc. (CXMT), and has previously purchased chips from Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), but has not yet used them to ship products. In a joint letter to Apple, several U.S. senators asked the company to reconsider its plans to purchase from the two companies and urged Apple to make a clear commitment before August 21 not to use chips from the above suppliers in its products.
The letter was delivered four days after Micron appealed to the White House to reject Apple's plans, showing the high degree of interaction between local storage manufacturers and politicians in the United States on this issue. Micron had previously urged the government to prevent Apple from "blacklisting suppliers" to solve memory shortages, fearing that this would weaken the competitive position of American companies.
Currently, Apple is not legally prohibited from purchasing chips from relevant Chinese companies, but if it insists on proceeding, it may incur a series of consequences. First of all, the U.S. Department of Defense may stop purchasing Apple products. Even if these chips are only used in equipment sold in China, it will cause obstacles to military procurement because they hit the "blacklist of Chinese military industrial enterprises." From the perspective of revenue scale, this part of the order is only a drop in the bucket for Apple, but it is an extremely important strategic partnership. Once it breaks down, it will have far-reaching consequences.
At the same time, Apple may also encounter more regulatory problems and endure additional pressure from the Trump administration. In the past few years, in order to avoid unpredictable and even criticized as "arbitrary and illegal" global tariff policies, Apple has been carefully balancing its relationship with the government, including maintaining a high degree of courtesy to the president himself, in exchange for a relatively stable operating environment. If Apple chooses to use chips from Chinese blacklisted companies on a large scale at a sensitive time point, this delicate balance is likely to be broken instantly.
However, it is not ruled out that Apple may try to take advantage of the current diplomatic and trade landscape to turn this dispute into a bargaining chip. President Donald Trump is seeking to ease trade tensions with China in the coming months and plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in September. In this scenario, if the White House is willing to "give the green light" to allow Apple to use Chinese components within a certain range and make it part of the negotiation conditions, then Apple's supply chain layout may also become an important chess piece in this game between great powers.
One analyst familiar with the situation noted that Apple has worked hard in the past to keep politics out of the company's day-to-day decisions, but that has become nearly impossible in the current highly politicized context around AI, chips and security. The report also mentioned that Apple has maintained its relationship with the White House through courtesy visits and symbolic gifts many times in the past, in order to avoid becoming a "target" in sudden tariffs and sanctions.
In a joint letter, the senators stated that they were not reassured by Apple's commitment to "only use CXMT memory chips in devices sold in China." They warned that once a certain component passes Apple's production certification, whether to expand it to the global product line is just a simple procurement decision, and there are no technical difficulties or regulatory thresholds at all. In their view, if Apple responds to the memory shortage in this way, it will set a dangerous precedent for the global memory market and U.S. national security for many years to come. Even if supply returns to normal, this structural risk will still exist for a long time.