Apple Tests CXMT Memory Chips as China's DRAM Supply Chain Emerges
Miles Bennett
Apple has begun testing DRAM chips — the memory that keeps phones and computers running smoothly — from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies for devices sold in China, while lobbying Washington to ease restrictions. This means a Chinese pathway into the global memory supply chain is becoming hard to ignore.
Why is Apple testing chips from a Chinese memory maker?
The Financial Times, citing two people familiar with the matter, reports Apple is testing ChangXin Memory Technologies' (长鑫存储) DRAM chips for devices sold in China.
Apple is simultaneously leading a U.S. tech industry lobbying effort to ease government restrictions on using ChangXin's products.
This means → Apple is running a two-track play: validate the technology first, push for policy clearance in parallel. If both tracks succeed, Chinese-made DRAM enters the Apple supply chain for real.
How big is ChangXin, exactly?
ChangXin is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui province, backed by the Chinese state, with production lines under construction or expansion in Hefei, Shanghai, and Beijing.
According to SemiAnalysis, ChangXin accounted for roughly 11% of global DRAM wafer capacity last year. By 2028 that share is projected to reach 15%, making it the world's fourth-largest DRAM supplier — behind only SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron.
In plain terms = out of every 100 DRAM wafers produced globally today, 11 come from ChangXin. In four years, it could be roughly 1 in every 6 or 7.
A decade of losses wiped out in one quarter — where did the money come from?
ChangXin's IPO prospectus shows a first-quarter net profit of RMB 33 billion (≈$4.8 billion), against cumulative losses of roughly RMB 37 billion (≈$5.4 billion) over the prior decade.
This means → one quarter's profit nearly filled a ten-year hole. The main driver: rising prices from a global memory-chip supply crunch.
Between 2023 and 2025, ChangXin also received at least RMB 6 billion (≈$880 million) in government subsidies. The Hefei city government provided cheap land, financing, and helped attract upstream and downstream suppliers to build a semiconductor cluster around ChangXin.
Where did the technology come from — and how strong is the political pushback?
In 2019, ChangXin acquired key patents from Qimonda, a bankrupt German chipmaker. SemiAnalysis says those patents "form the foundation of ChangXin's DRAM business."
ChangXin has also recruited heavily from South Korea and Taiwan. This year, Korean prosecutors convicted a former Samsung researcher for leaking chip technology to ChangXin.
On the political front, then-Senator Marco Rubio publicly warned of security risks in 2022. ChangXin has not been placed on the U.S. export-control entity list and can still purchase ASML's DUV lithography equipment — machines that etch chip circuits using deep-ultraviolet light.
Will Chinese DRAM crush competitors the way solar panels did?
SemiAnalysis analyst Ray Wang: "There is a misconception that Chinese memory chips are ultra-cheap and about to flood the market. Capacity is extremely tight — supply will fall short of demand for at least the next two years."
In plain terms = ChangXin still can't make enough to meet its own orders, let alone start a price war.
But longer-term fears persist. From solar panels to EVs, Chinese industry has a track record: sustained state capital, rapid capacity ramps, and eventually falling prices that squeeze foreign rivals. This reflects the fact that what the market is really watching isn't today's supply-demand balance — it's whether ChangXin can replicate that playbook three to five years from now.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.