Some of the world's biggest PC brands have started putting Chinese-made memory inside their laptops, and Apple is looking at doing something similar.
According to the Wall Street Journal, as reported by Techmeme, Apple has been testing memory chips from China's CXMT and has held talks with the company. But Apple's situation is more complicated than a typical PC maker's: it needs a custom version of the chips for its devices, and US rules block Apple from sharing the designs required to make that happen. The Journal notes that any deal would be politically sensitive.
The backdrop is a squeeze on memory supply. WION reports that Acer, Asus and HP have already begun using DRAM from CXMT in notebooks, as AI data centres absorb 70% of memory chip production and DRAM prices have tripled in 18 months. CXMT's first-half profit is up.
DRAM is the working memory in a computer — the short-term scratchpad your machine uses while running apps. It has long been dominated by a handful of non-Chinese suppliers. When AI server builders buy up most of the supply and prices triple, laptop makers face a stark choice: absorb the cost, raise prices, or find another source. Chinese supply is now that other source.
For Apple, the calculation is different again. Its chips are bespoke, and handing over designs is exactly what US export rules are meant to prevent — which is why testing CXMT parts is not the same as buying them. As the WSJ framing makes clear, the obstacle here is policy as much as engineering.
Why it matters: the AI boom is reshaping who supplies the ordinary components inside consumer laptops and phones, pushing even US companies toward Chinese chipmakers that Washington has spent years trying to keep at arm's length.