Overview
- Apple has escalated the request to the presidential level, with CEO Tim Cook and other executives pressing President Trump and senior officials on July 25 for permission to buy DRAM from China’s ChangXin (CXMT) and Yangtze (YMTC) for devices sold outside the United States.
- Micron has mounted a direct counter-lobbying campaign, with CEO Sanjay Mehrotra meeting Commerce Department officials to urge rejection and warning that allowing U.S. buyers to use those suppliers would damage domestic memory manufacturing.
- The two Chinese firms carry national-security designations: the Pentagon lists CXMT and YMTC as Chinese military‑affiliated companies under the 1260H designation, and YMTC is already on the Commerce Department’s Entity List which restricts broad trade.
- The fight is driven by a severe memory shortage that has roughly quadrupled DRAM prices because AI data centers are consuming large volumes of high‑end memory; Apple accuses Micron of price gouging while Micron says it will invest about $250 billion to expand U.S. capacity.
- The administration’s pending decision could quickly affect device prices, congressional support for export‑control policy, U.S. defense procurement rules, and the long‑term shape of global memory supply chains.