The price of DRAM — the working memory inside virtually every laptop and desktop — is climbing fast, and PC makers are scrambling for alternatives.
According to the Wall Street Journal, PC manufacturers, including HP, are in talks with their supply-chain partners about using memory chips made by CXMT, a Chinese chipmaker, in products destined for Asian markets. The discussions are still at the negotiation stage with supply-chain partners, the report says.
The Journal attributes the price surge to a simple supply-and-demand squeeze: memory capacity isn't growing quickly enough to keep up. When supply can't expand fast, prices rise.
That is what makes CXMT appealing. A Chinese supplier could offer manufacturers more chips and some relief from soaring costs. But the option comes with a major catch. According to the report, turning to CXMT is limited by national-security concerns — the reason the chips under discussion are bound for Asia rather than markets like the United States.
The result is a balancing act. PC makers face real pressure from rising component prices, but leaning on a Chinese memory supplier carries geopolitical baggage that constrains how widely they can use those chips.
Why it matters: memory is one of the biggest cost drivers in a computer, so if DRAM prices keep rising, the squeeze could eventually show up in what consumers pay for laptops and PCs — and the workarounds available to manufacturers are shaped as much by politics as by price.