Apple’s Chinese memory gamble hits price roadblock as market tightens

Apple’s efforts to secure cheaper memory from Chinese supplier CXMT have faltered amid rising costs and limited supply options, intensifying industry-wide memory shortages driven by AI demand and capacity shifts among major producers.

Apple’s attempt to use a Chinese memory supplier as leverage against the industry’s tightest bottleneck appears to have failed, leaving the company in much the same position as Samsung and other device makers facing higher component costs. According to reports, ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, was willing to discuss supply to Apple, but at prices that were not materially below those charged by established makers. That undercuts the idea that a fourth supplier could quickly bring relief to a market distorted by AI-fuelled demand for memory.

The pressure comes from a wider shift in the DRAM market. Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have been moving capacity towards high-bandwidth memory for AI servers, tightening supply of conventional chips used in phones, PCs and notebooks. Industry reports say the shortage has already pushed consumer prices higher and could persist for years, with Samsung warning the squeeze may last until at least 2028. The company’s memory business is benefiting, but its mobile division is absorbing the cost pressure.

CXMT had briefly looked like a possible escape route. Reports have suggested that major Chinese technology groups, including smartphone makers and internet companies, have already locked up much of its output through long-term contracts. That means the company is not sitting on spare inventory and has little incentive to discount aggressively. In practical terms, its pricing appears to have converged with the floor set by the global leaders rather than breaking it.

Evidence from the broader market points in the same direction. Tom’s Hardware reported that Lexar’s 32GB DDR5 kit built with domestic Chinese chips launched in China at 3,999 yuan, or about $592, a level that does little to suggest a dramatic cost advantage. Meanwhile, Tom’s Hardware also reported that HP, Asus and Acer have begun using small quantities of CXMT memory in notebooks for non-U.S. markets, not as a cheap substitute but as a way to secure supply. That suggests Chinese DRAM is becoming a sourcing option, but not yet a pricing cure.

Apple still has one advantage Samsung lacks: the cash flow from services such as the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music and Apple TV+. That gives Apple more room to absorb component inflation without passing all of it on immediately. Samsung’s mobile business does not have that buffer, even though the wider group is profiting from the memory boom. For buyers, that means the memory shortage is no longer just a manufacturing issue. It is increasingly a pricing reality.