Apple is in the same adventure as the rest of the companies that sell consumer technology: the adventure of getting RAM memory. Although during the beginning of the RAM and storage crisis it seemed that Apple was the only one that could endure the blows, reality ended up hittingdemonstrating that if they had not raised prices it was because they had plenty of stock in advance.
When that stock disappeared, we saw reality: model withdrawals, price increases and, more recently, new price increases with a whopping 20% more on iPad and Mac. The problem for those from Cupertino is that the key moment of the year is approaching: the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro and the rumored foldable iPhone, and there the price is going to be crucial.
That’s why they find themselves looking for RAM and storage even under the rocks, with China being the market in which they have put the magnifying glass to see if memory from manufacturers like CXMT can fit your products. But of course, there is a problem: the United States and, above all, the Bank of America, which says that All this about Apple looking for RAM in China is a little theater.
Teatrillo to get better prices
A few days ago we said that Apple was knocking on doors. If Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron don’t open because they are so busy neglecting the consumer segment in favor of AI, then we have to ring new bells. With the cushion on the latest and new key products on the starting grid, Apple’s escape route seems to have a name: CXMT.
ChangXin Memory Technologies is a Chinese DRAM manufacturer founded in 2016 that, since then, has been polishing its product lines, making significant advances to catch up with its large South Korean competitors in different DRAM models and technologies.
That said, it is estimated that Apple is striving to bring positions closer together with CXMT to ensure supply, but this has caused Bank of America to raise an eyebrow. And even worse: CXMT is on a certain list of the US Department of Commerce.
In a recent report, Bank of America analyzes the market situation, exposing that there are misconceptions about the memory chip sector and stopping, curiously, at Apple’s intention to approach the Chinese manufacturer. The bank sees positive the continuous and massive spending of Big Tech to make data centers, but when it comes to buying memory from China, they are not so positive.
According to the bank, Apple’s recent efforts are just a movement, a little theater, to gain bargaining power against the usual suppliers. This makes sense. Apple is no longer Nvidia, but it is still a very big fish in the consumer sector and buys a huge amount of components from different manufacturers.
If Apple reached an agreement with CXMT, it would have an impact on the accounts of suppliers such as Samsung or SK Hynix. Because in the end, that’s what this is all about: that the big fish has much more decision-making and negotiating power than the small one. When Valve wants to do its Steam Machine, You should accept what they offer you. at the price they offer it and without question, but Apple is, in the field of hardware, much more important than Valve and would have some negotiating power.
For Bank of America, it’s all about that strategy because they believe that the memory that the Chinese can create is, currently, valid only for more modest deviceslike a hypothetical iPhone 18e, not for the top of the range like the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPads with M processors or, above all, the Macs.
And more important than the institution’s analysis is the fact that CXMT appears on the Pentagon’s blacklist of Chinese Military Companies. According to the Financial Times, Apple has been pressing to the Government to being able to buy memory from CXMT without consequencesbut if tomorrow, for whatever reason, the Chinese company enters the other Pentagon blacklist (in which American companies are prohibited from trading), Apple would be in serious trouble.
In the end, no matter what happens, what is certain is that we, the users, will be the ones we end up paying the consequences. And products like the aforementioned Steam Machine, but also what is projected PS6low-end mobile phones, Raspberry Pi, nintendo switch 2 either the new xbox They are examples of what we can expect: prices -very- rising.
Image | Laurenz Heymann (edited)
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