Apple Wants Chinese Chips. Micron Says No. Trump Has to Pick a Side.

TLDR

• Apple wants permission to use Chinese memory chips in devices sold outside the US to ease a global shortage and cut costs
• Micron, the only large US memory chip maker, is lobbying hard against the move, warning it could harm domestic manufacturing
• Memory chip prices have quadrupled over the past year, driven by AI data centre demand
• Both Chinese suppliers involved — CXMT and YMTC — have been designated Chinese military companies by the Pentagon
• Trump must choose between lowering consumer prices and protecting US semiconductor production

Apple is caught in a tug of war between two of its biggest priorities — and so is the president.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been meeting with senior Trump administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to push for permission to use memory chips from two Chinese companies: ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies.

Apple and Micron $MU are now in a major lobbying fight over memory chips, according to WSJ.$AAPL is pressing the White House to allow it to use chips from China’s CXMT and YMTC in products sold outside the U.S., arguing that it would ease the global shortage and lower costs.… pic.twitter.com/yln2yoDWki

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