Trump Administration Pressures Apple Over Chinese Memory Chips

The Trump administration has told Apple directly that it doesn’t want the company buying memory chips from Chinese manufacturers, according to a new report. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said as much after visiting Apple’s Houston manufacturing facility, telling reporters the administration was “not in favor” of the idea and that he’d personally communicated that position to Apple.

The chips in question come from two Chinese companies: ChangXin Memory Technologies, which makes DRAM, and Yangtze Memory Technologies, which makes NAND flash. Apple reportedly has been testing CXMT’s DRAM for possible use in iPhones and MacBooks, particularly models sold in China, and has also held discussions involving YMTC, though nothing’s been finalized on either front.

The reasoning on Apple’s side is pretty straightforward. Memory prices have spiked hard this year as AI data centers eat up manufacturing capacity that used to go toward phones and laptops, and that’s already pushed Apple to raise prices on Macs and iPads. More suppliers means more leverage and potentially lower costs, and using Chinese memory specifically in China-market devices could free up supply from Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron for everything Apple sells elsewhere.

Washington’s objection isn’t really about price, though. Both CXMT and YMTC sit on the Pentagon’s list of Chinese companies with reported military ties, and YMTC also carries additional restrictions from being on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which limits what US tech it can access. Micron, the major American memory maker, has reportedly been lobbying against Apple’s plans too, arguing it would undermine domestic chip investment right as the US is trying to build up its own manufacturing base.

None of this is exactly new territory for Apple. Back in 2022, the company explored using YMTC memory for China-market iPhones and eventually shelved it after political pushback in Washington. This looks like a rerun of that same fight, just with memory prices now making the case for Chinese suppliers harder for Apple to ignore.

Where this lands matters beyond Apple. If the administration holds firm and Apple backs off again, it’s a pretty clear signal to other US tech companies about where the line is when cost pressure runs into geopolitics.