RAM crisis: China memory not cheaper for Apple – concerns about iPhone supply
Apple's plan to find another RAM supplier with CXMT initially seems to have failed – also for economic reasons. Modules for the iPhone are scarce.
Motherboard of an iPhone 16 Pro: Apple's A18 Pro SoC, which also contains the LPDDR5X SDRAM, is marked in red.
(Image: iFixIt)
Despite being one of the world's largest buyers of SDRAM modules, Apple, the iPhone manufacturer, is still unable to persuade the top 3 memory manufacturers, Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung Electronics, to lower prices. They continue to sell massive amounts of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) to Nvidia and various AI companies to build their data centers. Apple's attempts to gain leverage through the emerging Chinese company CXMT have reportedly failed for now. The reason is not only that Apple is likely to face regulatory problems in the USA when buying China RAM. Instead, prices at CXMT are also high – and likely to remain so for a while. Consequently, the RAM top 3 are not afraid of it.
More space needed on the wafers
As the electronics trade magazine DigiTimes, published in Taiwan, reports, CXMT faces technical difficulties in producing usable DRAM modules for Apple. Instead of EUV lithography machines, which are subject to US export restrictions, the company can only use older DUV devices. This reportedly results in about a third more wafer space being used.
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This, in turn, means that manufacturing costs are hardly any cheaper than those of Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix. Apple's attempts to obtain cheaper LPDDR5X modules from CXMT have failed, according to DigiTimes, citing reports from South Korea and China. CXMT reportedly does not want to grant Apple any discounts – the prices quoted were the same as those from the South Koreans.
CXMT allegedly has enough to do
Furthermore, CXMT allegedly has little need for Apple's orders, even though the business relationship would be of high political importance for China. CXMT currently supplies Xiaomi and Huawei, among others, and reportedly has long-term contracts with them, thus possibly having too little pipeline capacity for Apple. Apple had planned to rely on CXMT, at least for iPhones intended for the Chinese market.
Meanwhile, there are new reports suggesting that Apple is generally having trouble securing enough DRAM for its new iPhones, which are expected to be released in September. According to chip expert Tim Culpan, Apple's suppliers are currently trying to provide sufficient components. The main burden lies with Micron, but SK Hynix and Samsung are also said to be supplying. The introduction of iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, and Ultra is expected next month. Whether the RAM problem will affect the initially available quantities remains to be seen.
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