The Fruity Cargo Cult Apple is snuffling around Chinese memory chips to keep its AI hardware gravy train moving.
According to the Wall Street Journal Job’s Mob has been testing memory chips from China’s CXMT across products including iPhones and MacBooks.
The US company is trying to ease a memory squeeze created by the artificial intelligence boom and has held early talks with CXMT about supplying components for devices sold in China.
It hopes to win the White House’s blessing to do business with the Chinese outfit. Apple is raising prices globally and blaming higher memory chip costs caused by ravenous demand from AI companies.
Access to Chinese supplies could help the iPhone maker take some pressure off its supply chain.
Laptop makers HP and Acer have started using CXMT memory chips in devices sold outside the US, where they will not offend the anti-China lobby in the US government.
Some US policymakers fear CXMT orders from leading American companies would hand it knowledge and cash.
They say that could help Beijing’s military and undermine US-based Micron Technology, which is building new factories in Idaho and upstate New York.
CXMT recently listed shares in Shanghai and became the most valuable company listed in mainland China. Its market capitalisation was worth $520 billion as of Friday.
Federal rules stop US companies transferring technology to CXMT, including technical details and product specifications.
That sort of chat is normally part of creating the customised chips Job’s Mob likes to use. The restriction effectively blocks Job’s Mob from ordering custom CXMT chips.
Akin Gump export-controls lawyer Kevin Wolf said the rules allow Job’s Mob to use off-the-shelf CXMT components and negotiate prices.
Even if Job’s Mob sticks to US regulations, it may still want political cover from the Trump administration and might be forced to give Donald Trump another gold award.
That would help it avoid blowback for using Chinese memory chips. The US has put CXMT on a Pentagon list of entities it says have links to China’s military.
Using standard CXMT memory chips could force Apple to redesign parts of some products because CXMT’s technology still trails foreign rivals. That is partly because the company’s access to the fanciest chip-making gear is restricted.
However, CXMT has maxed out production capacity this year, leaving little space for new international clients. HP and Acer have secured limited quantities of memory chips and want to lock in more supplies for next year.
