Apple's Memory Price Cut Rejected by CXMT: AI Reshapes DRAM Supply Chain
firstadopter · x · 2026-08-05
Recent semiconductor industry reports reveal that Apple sought to negotiate lower mobile DRAM (e.g., LPDDR5X) prices with China's CXMT to reduce manufacturing costs for upcoming iPhones, but was surprisingly rejected.
The core driver is the siphoning of memory capacity by AI compute:
- HBM Capacity Squeeze: Giants like Samsung and SK Hynix are shifting production lines to high-margin, AI-specific High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), drastically reducing general DRAM capacity and causing market shortages.
- Strong China Domestic Demand: Chinese tech giants like Huawei and Xiaomi are securing CXMT's general memory supply via high-price, long-term contracts for supply chain security, eliminating CXMT's need to offer discounts to Apple.
- Reversal of Pricing Power: The traditional Big Tech strategy of using cheap Chinese parts as a bargaining chip has failed, returning pricing power to memory manufacturers.
Related event: Apple's Memory Price Cut Rejected by Chinese Chipmaker CXMT(2 posts)→
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