Apple has frozen plans to use memory chips from China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) amid political pressure, reports Nikkei Asia.
The article says “the move comes amid the latest round of U.S. export controls imposed against the Chinese tech sector and is a sign that Washington’s crackdown is creating a chilling effect down the supply chain.” Nikkei Asia says Apple intended to buy 128-layer 3D NAND flash memory chips from YMTC for use in iPhones sold in the Chinese market as early as this year, with the possibility of eventually purchasing up to 40% of the chips needed for all iPhones.
It was first reported that Apple was considering such plans back in 2018.
