Apple is testing memory chips from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, for products including iPhones and MacBooks as the company looks for more supply options while memory prices remain high.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has held early talks with CXMT about supplying memory components for devices sold in China, while the company is also seeking approval from the White House before moving further with any potential deal.
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Apple faces a major technical problem because U.S. export rules limit how American companies can share technical details and product specifications with CXMT. Apple can buy standard CXMT memory chips and negotiate prices, but it cannot ask the Chinese supplier to design custom parts around Apple’s own requirements.
That matters because Apple usually configures memory specifically for its own silicon, including the chips used across iPhones and Macs. Using standard memory could force Apple to redesign parts of its hardware or accept performance compromises compared with components built around its specifications.
Apple also faces political and supply pressure
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators led by Chuck Schumer has asked Apple to rule out using Chinese memory chips entirely, and Apple is expected to respond to that request by August 21.
CXMT also has limited production capacity available this year after prioritizing Chinese customers including ByteDance, Tencent, and Xiaomi. Its memory prices reportedly match or sometimes exceed those from Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung.
That makes CXMT less useful as a fourth supplier for Apple right now, especially after Apple raised prices across much of its product lineup in June and blamed higher memory costs driven by demand from AI infrastructure.
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