US Congress Urges Ban on Chinese Memory Chips, Calls for Joint Response with South Korea, Japan, and EU

Targeting CXMT and YMTC
Moves by Apple to Purchase
Blocking Supply Chains of Allies

Members of the U.S. Congress have urged the Trump Administration to prohibit the purchase of products from Chinese memory semiconductor companies ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), stressing that the United States should not rely on China for core components of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. They also called for a coordinated response with allies such as South Korea, Japan, and the European Union (EU).

Chinese semiconductor company CXMT. Reuters Yonhap News

According to the Financial Times (FT), on the 16th (local time), John Moolenaar, Chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (Republican), and Rep. George Whitesides (Democrat), sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick calling for a ban on U.S. companies purchasing products from China’s CXMT and YMTC.

In the letter, the two lawmakers stated that reliance on Chinese-made memory semiconductors poses an “unacceptable risk to America’s national security, economic security, and supply chain security.”

Chairman Moolenaar expressed concern over moves by U.S. companies such as Apple to purchase products from Chinese memory chipmakers due to the global shortage of DRAM supply.

He argued, “All major Chinese memory chip manufacturers are closely connected with the Chinese military,” adding that purchases of memory semiconductors by U.S. companies would directly support the People’s Liberation Army’s development of key technologies that can be used in both military and civilian applications.

This letter comes after the FT recently reported that Apple has been lobbying the Trump Administration for approval to use CXMT products.

The U.S. Department of Defense added CXMT to its list of “Chinese military companies” earlier this year. However, merely being included on this list does not itself prohibit U.S. companies from doing business with them.

The two lawmakers therefore urged that U.S. companies be barred from purchasing products from companies listed either on the Department of Defense’s Chinese military companies list or on the Department of Commerce’s export control "Entity List."

They also called for CXMT to be added to the Entity List, and for stronger regulations on YMTC, which is already on the list.

The letter also emphasized the need for cooperation with allies such as South Korea, Japan, and the EU. The two lawmakers proposed coordinated action to prevent CXMT and YMTC from “penetrating allied supply chains by exploiting the global memory shortage.”

CXMT and YMTC are Chinese companies specializing in the production of DRAM and NAND flash, respectively. Most of their products are currently supplied to the Chinese market.

The two companies’ advanced semiconductor production capacities lag behind global competitors due to U.S. export restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment. However, the industry notes that their rapid growth and large-scale investments could have a meaningful impact on global memory prices and supply chains within the next few years.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.