Apple Terminates Plans to Use YMTC 3D NAND Chips Amid Political Pressure

[AleksandarK]

In September, we reported that Apple, the world's most valuable company, would source some of its 3D NAND flash chips from the Chinese Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC). However, according to the latest political pressure from the US government, Apple has reportedly canceled any contracts with the Chinese company and will not include their 3D NAND chips in the production of iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers. Even with YTMC's Xstacking 3.0 six-plane architecture that provides triple-level cell storage with I/O speeds of 2400 MT/s, Apple is not going to source any NAND Flash memory as US-China political relationship gets tighter regulations.

However, this could not be a deal breaker for both companies, as NAND Flash is in high demand, and new clients will emerge. As for Apple, the company has contracts with Kioxia, SK Hynix, Samsung, and possibly others that will ensure a steady supply of storage for the company's solutions.



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[the54thvoid]

Any comments on this article can't avoid being political. All I'd like to ask is that folks try to remain civil and on topic. Thanks.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Considering the fact that Apple is moving some production to India, this would most likely not be accepted there either.
If the devices are only for the PRC market, I don't see the issue.

 

[bonehead123]

Good move IMHO, perhaps now they can redirect that money towards building some fabs or other facilities in that little ole place called US of A, hehehe

 

[Bomby569]

bloody stupid

 

[john_]

I guess if the latest iPhone is not selling as much as Apple hoped, this cancellation is not going to end up as a supply problem. In fact it probably helps Apple to let everyone believe that it is political pressure.

 

[Denver]

Good, Apple.

 

[BorisDG]

The new iPhone 14 is already using new (brand) NAND in some batches. I forgot the name, but wasn't the typical Hynix, Samsung or Kioxia (Toshiba).

 

[ARF]

That is a stupid US government PR. They actually don't know what they want.
Do they want to make China a great power to rival the Russian Federation?
Do they want the Chinese to manufacture for them everything super cheap?
Do they want to move the Chinese production away from China and if yes, where would they put it? Europe is also a competitor which should be destroyed, so the only option is back to US.
Do they really want to, though?

 

[Post Nut Clairvoyance]

I think it's a good decision, probably avoided a bullet with low yield and associated cost post-contract, especially since iProducts are supposedly high-end, if not, at least high-quality, or at very least uses high-quality components.
Even if there is considerable cost of choosing the same higher-quality NAND from the companies they already deal with, they don't exactly have reservations passing the cost to buyers.

I thought this was limited to only devices sold in PRC, and that is the only way for them to justify to the buyers - imagine corsair or seasonic coming out with "oh we're only selling PSU with chinese caps" to anyone whose not chinese...

 

[Vayra86]

That is a stupid US government PR. They actually don't know what they want.
Do they want to make China a great power to rival the Russian Federation?
Do they want the Chinese to manufacture for them everything super cheap?
Do they want to move the Chinese production away from China and if yes, where would they put it? Europe is also a competitor which should be destroyed, so the only option is back to US.
Do they really want to, though?

They want to maintain control.

The dollar and its position are closely related to the US's grasp on the financial world. If you take away market share for Chinese semiconductor companies, you retake control, its that simple. Obviously, these chips are now not going to come from Chinese fabs.

China might have a huge industry but fabs are not big/cutting edge compared to other Asian suppliers. The US will never regain the production capacity at large that was outsourced anytime soon, but all they really need is firm grip on the semiconductor leading edge to remain in control of numerous other branches. I mean, almost everything contains computer chips.

In the end its a choice of evils anyway. I'll take the democratically elected evil over the autocratic one, anytime. China has proven to be completely untrustworthy and is quickly moving to be a direct threat to our values, which it already is domestically.

Note: I don't even live in the US. But I realize we share quite a few things we should keep sharing and uniting behind. (EU citizen) Our collective strength is what will determine whether these moves will succeed or blow up in our face, but one thing is certain, doing nothing is a loser's strategy.

 

[ARF]

They want to maintain control.

The dollar and its position are closely related to the US's grasp on the financial world. If you take away market share for Chinese semiconductor companies, you retake control, its that simple. Obviously, these chips are now not going to come from Chinese fabs.

China might have a huge industry but fabs are not big/cutting edge compared to other Asian suppliers. The US will never regain the production capacity at large that was outsourced anytime soon, but all they really need is firm grip on the semiconductor leading edge to remain in control of numerous other branches. I mean, almost everything contains computer chips.

I am afraid that they have lost the control at least 10 years ago.
The decision is a drop in the ocean and has no influence whatsoever.

 

[Vayra86]

I am afraid that they have lost the control at least 10 years ago.
The decision is a drop in the ocean and has no influence whatsoever.

You say that, but that's your guess There are some pretty educated heads that got together in preparing sanctions.

We can't predict the future, as little as we can predict the outcome of, for example, the war in Ukraine right now. We can only make sure we have the best position going forward, every time. But looking at the facts, I'm slowly thinking we made the perfect strategic moves as the Western world lately. Is it enough, we can't tell, but definitely best effort short of full escalation (=global warfare).

 

[ARF]

You say that, but that's your guess There are some pretty educated heads that got together in preparing sanctions.

We can't predict the future, as little as we can predict the outcome of, for example, the war in Ukraine right now. We can only make sure we have the best position going forward, every time. But looking at the facts, I'm slowly thinking we made the perfect strategic moves as the Western world lately. Is it enough, we can't tell, but definitely best effort short of full escalation (=global warfare).

I have also seen experts say these "educated heads" are actually negative selection and the worst of the society, so of course they make decisions which harm them first the most and then much less they harm the target of their actions.

 

[Vayra86]

I have also seen experts say these "educated heads" are actually negative selection and the worst of the society, so of course they make decisions which harm them first the most and then much less they harm the target of their actions.

Ah yes, social media experts, how could I forget them.

 

[windwhirl]

Good move IMHO, perhaps now they can redirect that money towards building some fabs or other facilities in that little ole place called US of A, hehehe

Probably won't because it's too expensive from Apple's point of view. Wonders of cheap labour.

(they will never consider cutting back some of their margins)

 

[trsttte]

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if nation states didn't exist, would corporations just become the new nation states, or would the engineers of the world truly start creating things of true wonder? It's easy to be cynical about the human condition, but on the same hand the adaptiveness of humans is amazing. So, the question is ultimately what are humans capable of, if invisible lines on a man made map didn't exist?

@claes Any thoughts?

Movies have shown us that we need an overwhelming common foe to attack the US (either New York, DC or LA, no exceptions) for the world to give a shit and band together

 

[Easo]

This is a temporary "solution" anyways. You cannot stop the progress of a nation with 1.4 billion people, only slow it down. Question is - how much of a slowdown is possible.
Not like weapons actually need high end... Things will become funny when India will start flexing more.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

Timmy got cooked yet again.

 

[cvaldes]

This is a temporary "solution" anyways. You cannot stop the progress of a nation with 1.4 billion people, only slow it down. Question is - how much of a slowdown is possible.

Yes, these are complicated matters and there's no stopping China, just the chance at slowing them down a bit for an uncertain amount of time.

Throughout its long history, China has repeatedly shown that it has the resources, motivation, and ability to further their progress. The largest industrialized nations treated China as an emerging market and rolled out the red carpet. China used many of those freely given opportunities to better place itself for the future.

And now they have traversed the length of the red carpet that was rolled out and are knocking at the front door.

Of course, each government has to consider the interests of its own citizens. Is this the right move? The best move? Even if it is the best move for now (arguable) it likely will not be the best move forever.

With globalization and multinational corporations, these are tricky topics.

 

[awesomesauce]

Yeah don’t worry guys, you will pay more for what you get.

That literally why we having a big inflation. They want everything being made in China stop and rerouting else where.

It started way back when huawei pass Apple in sales.

 

[R-T-B]

This is a temporary "solution" anyways. You cannot stop the progress of a nation with 1.4 billion people, only slow it down.

That's the point, yes.

 

[Vayra86]

This is a temporary "solution" anyways. You cannot stop the progress of a nation with 1.4 billion people, only slow it down. Question is - how much of a slowdown is possible.
Not like weapons actually need high end... Things will become funny when India will start flexing more.

'Final' solutions were attempted not too long ago, didn't quite work out.