Senators Demand Apple Commit to Not Buying Chinese Memory Chips

[MacRumors]

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer has teamed up with several of his Senate colleagues to demand Apple commit to not purchasing chips from Chinese companies ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) or Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC). [PDF]

With memory shortages causing Apple to raise the prices of Macs and iPads, the company has been talking with CXMT and YMTC about a chip deal. The two companies are on the Defense Department's list of Chinese companies that are suspected to have ties to the People's Liberation Army. Apple is not required to get U.S. approval before buying chips from CXMT, but YMTC is also on the Commerce Department's Entity List, which means Apple would need an export license before being able to work with the company.

Apple has been lobbying the Trump administration to greenlight its plan to buy Chinese chips, and Apple also wants to ensure the government won't add CXMT to the Entity List in the future.

Schumer wants Apple to pledge not to use chips from CXMT or YMTC in any Apple product sold anywhere in the world. He says Apple's plan would harm the U.S. semiconductor supply chain and set a dangerous precedent for other companies to follow.

Rumors have suggested Apple is already testing chips from CXMT, and Schumer has also asked Apple to answer questions about the reported testing and the company's efforts to lobby the Trump administration to prevent national security restrictions on Chinese semiconductor suppliers.

Fueled by investment from my Chips & Science Law, workers in Central New York and across the country are carrying out the largest domestic expansion of domestic memory chip production in a generation, and American companies, like Apple, should be buying chips stamped 'Made in America,' not from companies linked to the Chinese military. I wrote my CHIPS & Science Law, so we would make American microchips again, with American workers, and not be over-reliant on semiconductors from overseas. That's why I'm leading a bipartisan group of senators calling on Apple CEO Tim Cook to commit to not using memory chips produced by Chinese military-linked companies. I've long sounded the alarm on the grave national security and economic threats posed by YMTC, CXMT, and other companies backed by the Chinese Communist Party. Apple integrating these Chinese chips into its supply chain would send a dangerous message to other American companies that they, too, should turn to Chinese-made chips.

Apple has told lawmakers that it will use the chips in devices for the Chinese market, leaving more Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron chips available for products sold in countries like the U.S. Schumer claims the limitation "cannot be expected to hold" because Apple could extend the chips worldwide with a "single procurement decision." Schumer also said supplying chips to Apple would give CXMT "revenue and reputational gains" regardless of where the chips were used.

Back in 2022, Apple attempted to ink a deal to purchase chips from YMTC, but Schumer led an effort to stop the agreement and to add YMTC to the Entity List. Schumer has also been pushing for CXMT to be added to the list, which is the action Apple is aiming to stop. Schumer has asked Apple to respond to his letter by August 21, 2026.

Other senators who signed the letter are Jim Banks, Mike Crapo, Jeanne Shaheen, Andy Kim, James Risch, and Pete Ricketts.

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Article Link: Senators Demand Apple Commit to Not Buying Chinese Memory Chips

 

[magbarn]

So how much are the scumbags at SK Hynix, Micron, Samsung paying these senators? These greedy companies have made more over the last 12 months than the whole time they’ve been making memory. Absolutely obscene.

 

[marco114]

Chuck Schumer: I love expensive RAM.

Screw him. If someone can provide it for cheaper, please allow it. He doesn't even know what RAM is.

 

[Smartuser]

“We love for everything to become more expensive.”

 

[GMShadow]

Chucky could have helped matters by hammering down the NIMBY idiots in his own state that have held up Micron's fab construction for years.

 

[goobot]

I actually think using it for the Chinese market to free up supply elsewhere is a very smart move on Apple’s part.

 

[GlassFingers]

Chuck Schumer: I love expensive RAM.

Screw him. If someone can provide it for cheaper, please allow it. He doesn't even know what RAM is.

lol I do think there’s a high chance he has no clue what it is, as well

 

[Genelec8341]

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer's #1 job is staying in office. Supporting the interests of his constituents doesn't even make the list.

 

[wilhoitm]

Apple should change the Apple Silicon design and make their own memory that is built into Apple Silicon chips!

 

[SKeijmel]

it's all way to cheap.

 

[gleepskip]

Schumer is MAGA now? It's rare I agree with him.

 

[sw1tcher]

Other senators who signed the letter are Jim Banks (R), Mike Crapo (R), Jeanne Shaheen (D), Andy Kim (D), James Risch (R), and Pete Ricketts (R).

🙄 at people only going after Schumer when this is a bipartisan issue.

 

[sw1tcher]

Chuck Schumer: I love expensive RAM.

Screw him. If someone can provide it for cheaper, please allow it. He doesn't even know what RAM is.

Schumer: "RAM. Oh, you referring to that '80s - '90s rock band from Athens, Georgia?"

 

[2010mini]

So much for the "free market"

 

[Reason077]

Chuck Schumer: I love expensive RAM.

I wonder if he has any family members with financial ties to Micron or SK Hynix? Hmmmm 🤔

 

[Unregistered 4U]

All they can really do here is ask. 🙂

 

[Attirex]

 

[Reason077]

Chucky could have helped matters by hammering down the NIMBY idiots in his own state that have held up Micron's fab construction for years.

Apparently it should be in production by 2030. But Apple can’t wait until 2030 for expanded RAM supply, they need more options right now!

 

[Frantisekj]

Who the hell care about some American senators or whoever?

 

[HowEver]

Will any US politician give up any of the Chinese merchandise they otherwise rely on?

 

[theapplehead]

So how much are the scumbags at SK Hynix, Micron, Samsung paying these senators? These greedy companies have made more over the last 12 months than the whole time they’ve been making memory. Absolutely obscene.

Haha Samsung and Hynix have no incentive either way. It's not like they could even support Apple due to the shortages. The main company it would hurt is Micron since they are US and have pulled out of the Chinese market as well as other foreign markets. Anyways, rising tides raise all boats so YMTC and CMXT have both benefits from the "greedy companies" that have supplied all this DRAM to the cloud guys.

 

[marco114]

Bet: Schumer has a bunch of stock in Micron, make the announcement, stock goes up 150%. cash out, and say just kidding. ok apple. go ahead (after investing in the Chinese company).

 

[ThomasJL]

Even if Apple were to buy memory chips from China for lower prices, it doesn’t mean that Apple will then lower prices on products that contain those memory chips. Tim Cook is filled to the brim with corporate greed, so he’d just view buying lower-priced memory chips from China as yet another opportunity to increase profit margins and thus either keep product prices the same or even raise them to further increase profit margins.

And then his supporters will try to defend his greedy decision by saying it was not about greed, but rather about “inflation” or some other similarly nonsensical rationalization.

 

[wigby]

Apple should change the Apple Silicon design and make their own memory that is built into Apple Silicon chips!

I think they already do that. They just don't own any fabrication plants so they have to rely on foreign and domestic fabs.

 

[contacos]

Even if Apple were to buy memory chips from China for lower prices, it doesn’t mean that Apple will then lower prices on products that contain those memory chips. Tim Cook is filled to the brim with corporate greed, so he’d just view buying lower-priced memory chips from China as yet another opportunity to increase profit margins and thus either keep product prices the same or even raise them to further increase profit margins.

And then his supporters will try to defend his greedy decision by saying it was not about greed, but rather about “inflation” or some other similarly nonsensical rationalization.

He's gone in a month