Apple Sourcing iPhone 18 DRAM From CXMT Won’t Fix Supply Or Pricing Issues, Says Analyst, But Ultimate Reason For Securing A Deal Is Minimizing Shortage Risk
https://wccftech.com/apple-cxmt-deal-is-for-minimizing-shortage-risk-says-analyst/
Publish Date: 2026-06-28 15:14:00
Source Domain: wccftech.com
The price hike from Apple was an inevitable event, but the company is now making efforts to ensure that its DRAM supply isn’t disrupted by AI chips gobbling up the entire supply, which would explain the firm’s lobbying attempts to source memory chips from a Chinese blacklisted memory manufacturer, CXMT. However, an analyst believes that forming a partnership with a new company won’t address the supply or pricing fixes, but it’ll tackle one problem that Apple fears more than the aforementioned issues; managing DRAM shortage risk.
With the DRAM shortage now set in stone, Apple’s plans have shifted towards securing a stable supply, with its actual volume estimated to be 10-20 percent lower
From paying $39 a couple of years ago to forking over $145 for a 12GB LPDDR5X RAM chip, it’s clear that Apple isn’t looking for a way to escape these price hikes, but to reduce its risk, hence its involvement in bringing CXMT into the fold. According to TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s “pull-in” volume of A20 and A20 Pro chips will be between 10-20 percent lower from H2 2026 to Q1 2027 due to the shortage.
The memory supply-demand gap will keep widening through 2027. That is the real reason Apple is lobbying the White House to keep CXMT off the Entity List.
▌Start with my latest industry checks: The pressure on Apple has shifted from soaring memory costs to a widening supply gap.…
— 郭明錤｜Ming-Chi Kuo (@mingchikuo) June 28, 2026
For those who believe that Apple’s pricing and supply woes will be resolved by bringing CXMT on board, Kuo has a different impression. Instead, as mentioned above, the California-based titan wants to eliminate the risk of DRAM shortage, which can adversely affect iPhone 18 shipments for the year. This supply choke is exactly why Apple is reported to move to TSMC’s 1.4nm process after just two generations of sticking with the 2nm node.
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