Apple-Micron Clash Over Chinese Memory Suppliers Puts President Trump in a Dilemma

"Lower Prices With Chinese Memory" vs. "No Supply to Major U.S. Tech Firms"

U.S. media have reported that President Donald Trump has found himself caught between Apple, which is lobbying to use Chinese-made memory chips, and Micron, which wants to block such efforts.

Apple. Yonhap News

According to major U.S. media outlets on the 24th (local time), Apple CEO Tim Cook and other senior executives recently asked President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to allow the use of Chinese-made memory chips in Apple products. Apple maintains that this would help relieve supply pressure for memory chips and lower the prices American consumers have to pay.

However, U.S. memory chip manufacturer Micron is against this. Micron’s executives, including CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, have warned Secretary Lutnick and other administration officials that Chinese memory manufacturers such as CXMT should not be allowed to supply to major U.S. technology firms like Apple.

Companies that procure memory chips, including Apple, have avoided transactions with CXMT and YMTC in recent years after the U.S. Department of Defense designated them as Chinese military firms. Among them, YMTC is also on the U.S. government’s trade blacklist known as the “Entity List.”

White House Deputy Press Secretary Kushi Desai said the Trump Administration will “seek to protect our national security while also pursuing investment and relief from economic burdens for the American people.”

Michael Kratsios, White House Chief Technology Officer, told federal lawmakers recently: “The most important thing is that we build manufacturing capacity here. Naturally, we do not wish to do business with anyone listed on the Entity List.”

It is known that Apple, in trying to lower its purchasing price for memory chips, has pressured memory manufacturers, resulting in mutual resentment between Apple and Micron. Amidst this, the recent AI-driven surge in demand for memory semiconductors has weakened Apple’s negotiating power over chip procurement pricing.

According to anonymous sources cited by U.S. media, Secretary Lutnick is in regular communication with both Apple’s CEO Cook and Micron’s CEO Mehrotra regarding the administration’s goal of boosting domestic investment and expanding U.S. chip production.

Both Cook and Mehrotra have appeared publicly with President Trump in the White House, and both accompanied him during his state visit to China in May this year.

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