Apple 'starts testing CXMT memory chip'
According to WSJ, testing was "conducted by Apple on many product lines", including iPhone and MacBook. Because CXMT is on the US government's restricted list, Apple has submitted a license application to the White House and is still waiting for approval.
Apple has not yet commented.
In June, according to FT, Apple sent an application to the White House, wanting to buy components from China's largest memory manufacturer, but faced fierce opposition from American politicians.
Apple currently uses memory chips from Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron Technology. According to PhoneArena, cooperation with CXMT will help reduce supply congestion, but Apple will face difficulties without the approval of the US government. Besides, to use the Chinese company's solution, Apple also has to redesign some parts of the iPhone to achieve the highest performance.
"Those would be significant compromises, considering that CXMT is lagging behind its competitors due to limited access to advanced chip manufacturing equipment," PhoneArena commented.
According to TechRadar, even if Apple convinces regulators, it will be difficult for CXMT to solve Apple's immediate problems. The technology on the iPhone 18 Pro and folding iPhone is considered to be far behind the market so it cannot use the CXMT chip, which is behind Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron. The Chinese company's production line is also fully booked until the end of this year.
Previously, citing sources from the semiconductor industry chain, DDaily (Korea) said that Apple had negotiated with CXMT to buy cheap DRAM. However, the Chinese company refused to even sell "at a higher or equivalent price" to Samsung or SK Hynix products.
Tim Culpan, a Taiwanese technology journalist and former Bloomberg reporter, said on the Culpium blog that TSMC, Apple's chip manufacturing partner, is also "rushing" to find memory supplies to complete the packaging of A20 Pro and C2 chips for the iPhone 18 Pro. 9tomac estimates that if this information is correct, in addition to having to raise the selling price, the iPhone 18 Pro line expected to launch in September may be in short supply right from the start.
AI fever is causing memory chips to run out. According to Digitimes, many of the world's leading DRAM and HBM manufacturers have sold out of production until the end of 2027. Samsung Electronics, Micron and SanDisk announced no more NAND flash, while Kioxia and SK Hynix are completing the final contracts. All partners are also required to accept a deposit payment in advance, regardless of whether they sign a long-term contract or not. Some companies even have to "beg" to be allocated more goods at higher prices than usual.
According to Tom's Hardware, the cause of the prolonged crisis is the huge demand from AI data centers. Modern systems require large amounts of high bandwidth memory (HBM) to continuously feed data to the GPU. HBM has very high profit margins, so manufacturers are devoting production, investment and technical resources to this segment. This means they are reducing their focus on conventional DRAM memory, leading to a shortage in supply for computers, servers, and mobile devices.