TL;DR
The Financial Times reported that Apple is seeking U.S. clearance to buy DRAM from CXMT, a Chinese memory maker on the Pentagon’s 1260H list, after Apple raised prices on Macs and iPads because of a memory shortage. The report shows Apple still has paths Europe lacks: Micron at home, political access in Washington and a possible China route, while Europe has no major DRAM or HBM maker.
Apple is lobbying the U.S. government for clearance to buy memory chips from China’s CXMT, according to the Financial Times, a move that matters because it follows Apple’s Mac and iPad price increases over a global memory shortage and highlights Europe’s lack of a comparable memory supplier.
The reported request is not a completed supply deal. The FT said Apple approached officials for clearance to use ChangXin Memory Technologies, known as CXMT, whose Pentagon 1260H listing reflects alleged ties to China’s military. The same report said Apple is not legally barred from buying from CXMT, but the company is seeking political cover because any deal could face Washington scrutiny.
The pressure comes after Apple raised prices on Macs and iPads, citing higher memory costs. Counterpoint estimates cited in the source material put memory prices at roughly four times higher over three quarters, with some segments rising even more year over year. The core DRAM market is still concentrated around Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, with no European company in that group.
The Europe angle is the sharper supply-chain lesson. The U.S. has Micron, Apple has direct political access in Washington, and CXMT gives it a possible China route if regulators allow it. Europe, by contrast, makes less than 10 percent of global semiconductors by value and has no major producer of commodity DRAM or HBM, the memory used in PCs, servers and AI accelerators.
Apple is reaching for Chinese memory. Europe doesn’t even have that option.
The shortage exposes America’s dependence — and Europe’s far more brutally. Apple has a domestic supplier, political weight, and the China option. Europe has no memory of its own, no seat at the table, no leverage on what counts.
- EU makes < 10% of the world’s semiconductors
- Effectively no DRAM, no HBM from Europe
- 3–4 memory makers worldwide — none European
- Pure price-taker: memory ~4× in 3 quarters
- ASML: EUV monopoly — no leading-edge chip without it
- Zeiss: precision optics, unrivalled worldwide
- imec · CEA-Leti · Fraunhofer: world-class research
- Infineon, NXP, STMicro: automotive · power · SiC
The shortage is a sovereignty test — Europe fails on supply but still holds the leverage in its hand. If even Apple can’t buy its way out, Europe’s answer isn’t to buy its way in, but to run two tracks: press the unique chokepoints as real leverage — and cut dependence wherever it can without Brussels: local-first, open weights, quantization, right-sized hardware. Bury the 20% dream, defend what’s yours, need less.
Europe Has No Memory Supplier
The shortage matters beyond Apple because memory is now a constraint on consumer electronics, AI infrastructure and industrial computing. If one of the world’s strongest buyers is trying to widen its supplier list, smaller European device makers and cloud providers have less room to negotiate and fewer ways to secure supply.
For readers, the impact can show up as higher device prices, slower hardware upgrades and tighter access to AI computing capacity. For policymakers, it shows the difference between dependence and leverage: Europe has valuable chip assets, but not the memory capacity needed to soften a shortage. This is reporting on market and policy risk, not financial advice; memory-linked investments remain volatile and can lead to losses.
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The 20 Percent Target Slips
The European Chips Act entered into force in September 2023 with a goal of lifting Europe’s global semiconductor share to 20 percent by 2030. The Commission says the law has supported pilot lines, state aid decisions and a new Chips Act 2.0 proposal in June 2026, but those steps do not create a European DRAM or HBM champion on the timetable now testing buyers.
The European Court of Auditors has called the 20 percent target very unlikely, according to the source material. The same material says Commission projections put Europe closer to 11.7 percent by 2030, while ASML has estimated that reaching the 20 percent goal would require more than 250 billion euros.
Europe’s strength is still real. It has ASML in lithography, Carl Zeiss in precision optics, research centers such as imec, CEA-Leti and Fraunhofer, and chipmakers including Infineon, NXP and STMicroelectronics in automotive and power electronics. Those assets give Europe bargaining power in parts of the chip chain, but they do not supply AI memory when the shortage hits.
High-performance HBM memory modules
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Washington Has Not Decided
It is not yet clear whether U.S. officials will give Apple the clearance it reportedly wants, whether Apple would sign a supply agreement with CXMT, or whether CXMT could meet Apple’s quality, volume and security requirements at scale. Apple has not publicly confirmed a deal.
It is also unclear how long the memory shortage will last. AI demand, HBM capacity, DRAM pricing and national security rules are all moving at once, which makes near-term supply and pricing harder to pin down for device makers and public buyers.
European DRAM memory supplier
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U.S. Clearance Is the Test
The next marker is any response from Washington or Apple on the reported CXMT request. In Europe, attention will turn to whether Chips Act 2.0 targets memory-adjacent areas such as advanced packaging and new architectures, or whether policymakers focus on reducing demand through local-first AI, smaller models and more efficient hardware choices.
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Key Questions
What exactly did Apple reportedly ask for?
According to the Financial Times, Apple is seeking U.S. clearance to buy memory chips from CXMT, a Chinese DRAM manufacturer on the Pentagon’s 1260H list.
Is Apple banned from buying CXMT chips?
The FT report says Apple is not legally barred from buying CXMT chips, but the company’s listing creates political and reputational risk because of alleged military links cited by the Pentagon.
Why does this matter for Europe?
Europe has no major DRAM or HBM maker, so it cannot fall back on a domestic memory supplier during a shortage. That leaves European buyers more exposed to global prices and supplier allocation decisions.
Does Europe have any chip leverage?
Yes. Europe has ASML, Zeiss optics, leading research institutes and strong firms in automotive and power chips. The gap is in memory production, especially DRAM and HBM.
Is this a reason to buy or sell chip stocks?
No. This article is not financial advice. Memory prices, chip stocks and AI hardware demand can be highly volatile, and investors can lose money.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
