Apple Tests Chinese DRAM in iPhones, and Micron Rallies Anyway
Apple is testing memory chips from China's CXMT for iPhones and MacBooks. The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Apple is trialing DRAM from ChangXin Memory Technologies across multiple product lines; the Financial Times had previously reported that qualification was under way, but today's story is the first confirmation of which products are involved. The motive is cost: the AI-driven memory shortage pushed Apple to raise prices on most of its products in June, and it wants a fourth supplier. Two obstacles are clear — U.S. manufacturers need White House sign-off before buying CXMT parts, and Apple is waiting on that clearance; on top of that, CXMT has maxed out this year's capacity, prioritizes domestic customers such as ByteDance, Tencent and Xiaomi, and does not undercut incumbents on price.
The market did not read it as a threat: Micron rose 1.4% in premarket trading to $883.96, and is up more than 200% year to date. The mechanism is simple — a supplier with no spare chips and no price advantage does not change the near-term supply balance. CXMT took 7% of the global market by revenue in the second quarter, and its HBM share is forecast to climb from 1% in 2025 to 12% by 2028, which makes this a 2027-2028 story rather than a 2026 one.
The second headline is a target hike.
