Apple talks to Chinese memory chip suppliers for iPhone models

Bloomberg reports that Apple is exploring the possibility of working with Chinese memory chip suppliers for the iPhone to reduce dependency on Japanese partners.

Apple’s major memory chip supplier, Kioxia, was forced to halt the release of drives in February 2022 due to contamination issues with NAND manufacturing chemicals. According to Kioxia and Western Digital, companies failed to use at least 6.5 exabytes (6.5 billion GB) of storage.

Apple it is now trying to reduce future risks by adding alternative memory manufacturers to its supply chain. The iPhone maker currently uses chips from Micron Technology and Samsung, and is also considering a partnership with Chinese state-owned Yangtze Memory Technologies, which has wanted to work with Apple since 2016.

shipments could begin if Apple is convinced

Apple is in talks with Chinese semiconductor company Yangtze Memory Technologies and already has NAND It was learned that he tested flash memory samples. Yangtze Memory Technologies is headquartered in Wuhan and was founded in 2016. Shipments could begin in May if the company convinces Apple that its products meet the iPhone’s requirements.

However, industry sources report that Yangtze’s memory chips are at least a generation behind Samsung and other Apple suppliers. Therefore, it seems likely that Yangtze chips will be installed in entry-level devices such as the iPhone SE.