China now even less likely to solve Apple’s memory crunch
One of Apple’s proposed solutions – or at least mitigations – for the memory shortage was to buy RAM from two Chinese companies, CXMT and YMTC. While it was not technically banned from doing so, this would have put it into conflict with the US government, and the idea is now looking even less likely thanks to two developments …
Apple's memory shortage has made it even less likely that the company will turn to Chinese suppliers CXMT and YMTC for RAM. Initially, this solution was proposed, although it would have conflicted with US government regulations. In June, Apple sought clearance from the Trump administration to purchase memory chips from China, but the Pentagon blacklist posed potential risks.
Despite this, the Cupertino company would have faced a high political or PR cost, making the likelihood of clearance slim. Now, two developments further diminish the possibility. First, there are reports that purchasing from these Chinese companies might soon become illegal, as representatives from the House Select Committee on China have urged the Commerce Department to add CXMT to the entity list.
Second, even if legal, CXMT is already maxed out in its production capacity for this year, leaving limited room for new international clients. Experts have now deemed this unlikely solution exceedingly improbable.
Written by urgent.news from 9to5Mac's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
