--- title: The US told Apple not to buy Chinese memory chips. It... description: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick publicly opposes Apple buying memory chips from Chinese manufacturers CXMT and YMTC, but no export-control rule actually... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-us-told-apple-not-to-buy-chinese-memory-chips-it-has-no-rule-that-stops-it-herwl0dwi twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The US told Apple not to buy Chinese memory chips. It has no rule that stops it | daily.dev og:description: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick publicly opposes Apple buying memory chips from Chinese manufacturers CXMT and YMTC, but no export-control rule actually... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-us-told-apple-not-to-buy-chinese-memory-chips-it-has-no-rule-that-stops-it-herwl0dwi og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/HErWL0dWI.png og:image:alt: The US told Apple not to buy Chinese memory chips. It has no rule that stops it og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The US told Apple not to buy Chinese memory chips. It has no rule that stops it **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick publicly opposes Apple buying memory chips from Chinese manufacturers CXMT and YMTC, but no export-control rule actually stops the purchase since Apple can buy off-the-shelf commodity memory without needing licensed design-sharing. Apple's COO admits memory chips require little customization, closing the legal loophole Commerce would need to intervene. A bipartisan Senate letter from Jim Banks and Chuck Schumer gave Apple until 21 August to commit to excluding these chips entirely, while Micron lobbies against the move given its $250bn US manufacturing investment. The AI-driven memory shortage has raised prices industry-wide, and Tim Cook's transition to executive chairman on 1 September adds uncertainty over who at Apple will ultimately decide. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Is there a US law that stops Apple from buying memory chips from Chinese companies like CXMT or YMTC? No specific rule bans it. US export controls only require a license before an American company shares product design information with YMTC or CXMT to build a customized part; buying off-the-shelf, non-customized memory requires no license. Apple's COO Sabih Khan noted memory chips need little customization, so this restriction does not apply, leaving Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's opposition as a political preference rather than an enforceable rule. _Anyone tracking supply chain and export-control risk follows stories like this one on daily.dev._ ### What deadline did the Senate give Apple over using Chinese memory chips? Senators Jim Banks and Chuck Schumer sent a bipartisan letter to Tim Cook in late July asking Apple to commit by 21 August to excluding CXMT and YMTC memory components entirely, citing dependency risk on firms the Pentagon has designated Chinese military companies rather than price concerns. _Developers weighing supply chain dependency risks can keep up with cases like this on daily.dev._ ### Why has Micron opposed Apple buying memory from Chinese manufacturers CXMT and YMTC? Micron has lobbied the US administration against letting Apple buy Chinese memory, arguing it would undercut domestic reshoring efforts it has invested roughly $250bn in across New York, Idaho, and Virginia. Micron's market value briefly topped $1.27 trillion in June amid the AI-driven memory shortage, giving it a financial stake in keeping the market expensive and American-made. _Those following AI-driven hardware cost pressures can track this dispute on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Senators warn Apple off Chinese memory chips](https://daily.dev/posts/senators-warn-apple-off-chinese-memory-chips-dyxfq0okz) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#apple](https://daily.dev/tags/apple), [#supply-chain](https://daily.dev/tags/supply-chain) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-us-told-apple-not-to-buy-chinese-memory-chips-it-has-no-rule-that-stops-it-herwl0dwi) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The US told Apple not to buy Chinese memory chips. 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