Apple Wants to Buy Blacklisted Chinese Memory. Micron Has Nothing to Worry About - Yahoo Finance

Apple is reportedly seeking permission to source memory chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a Chinese chipmaker blacklisted by the U.S. due to national security concerns. While this move r... Read original →

Apple’s overture to ChangXin is a cost-driven tactical probe, not a strategic pivot. Technically, CXMT’s commodity DRAM lacks the bandwidth and stacking density required for AI workloads, leaving Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix unchallenged in the HBM3/HBM3E arena built on 3nm nodes and EUV-enabled advanced packaging. Compliance-wise, even if approved, U.S. oversight will inflate Apple’s supply chain overhead, while CXMT’s sub-3% global capacity offers negligible cost relief. In response, Micron will likely deepen its TSMC CoWoS integration with NVIDIA to lock in HBM leadership; Korean rivals may accelerate U.S./Korea fab expansions. Over the next 12–24 months, this episode will trigger two long-tail shifts: non-Chinese firms will build ‘de-risked but not de-coupled’ supply chains, and Washington may introduce tiered export controls—permitting limited sourcing of low-sensitivity memory—to balance containment with commercial pragmatism.