Apple sought U.S. approval to buy DRAM chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies as AI-driven memory shortages and rising prices strain hardware margins and complicate sourcing under U.S.-China trade restrictions.
Apple sought U.S. approval to buy DRAM chips from Chinese memory maker ChangXin Memory Technologies, a move that reflects how AI-led demand is tightening global memory supplies and raising costs for hardware makers. The reported outreach to the Commerce Department came as CXMT, China’s largest DRAM producer, faces heightened U.S. scrutiny after the Pentagon identified it as a military-linked company, while its addition to the Commerce Department’s Entity List has reportedly been delayed amid broader negotiations with China. The backdrop is a sharp upswing in memory prices, with TrendForce forecasting steep increases in DRAM and enterprise SSD contract prices in the second quarter of 2026 as hyperscale AI data center demand accelerates. Apple has already raised prices on some iPad and MacBook products, saying it can no longer absorb higher memory and storage costs. The episode highlights both the concentration of the global memory market among suppliers including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron, and the policy uncertainty created by a prolonged pause in Entity List updates.