Adding another 3D NAND maker to the supply chain would certainly be good for Apple, but US lawmakers said one of the world’s largest consumer electronics companies would use YMTC’s memory, thereby helping China’s semiconductor industry develop. Apple claims it will only use chips from Yangtze Memory in iPhones sold in China.
Apple has been evaluating the use of YMTC’s 3D NAND for several months, and reports emerged last week that the company has finally decided to use the Chinese manufacturer’s flash memory for its iPhones. financial times It had considered using YMTC’s products in some of its smartphones sold in China, but as of last week had not confirmed that these chips were in use. Apple reportedly said it had no plans to use YMTC devices in smartphones. But US lawmakers remain concerned about Apple’s cooperation with Yangtze Memory.
The YMTC is mostly controlled by Tsinghua Unigroup, a company directly served by the Chinese government through various banks and investment funds. It also has ties with Tsinghua University, which is funded by the Ministry of Education. As a result, the YMTC is largely a state-owned enterprise, which is a concern for US legislators. In fact, they accuse the Chinese government of illegally subsidizing his YMTC to give it a competitive edge over American memory makers such as Micron. Of course, this ignores his $76 billion tip bill.
Another reason US lawmakers are concerned about the YMTC is that it allegedly supplied 3D NAND memory and/or products to Huawei without obtaining an export license from the US Department of Commerce. As of 2020, everyone who makes products for Huawei using technology developed in the United States (such as hardware tools used in semiconductor factories, electronic design automation tools used in chip development, etc.) must be licensed from Dof Commerce.
“The YMTC has extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the military,” Texas Rep. Michael McCall, a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview with the Financial Times. “There is credible evidence that the YMTC is violating export control laws by selling goods to Huawei. We will help you reach your goals.”
Some lawmakers are asking Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to put the YMTC on the entity list because of its ties to the CCP and bar it from obtaining U.S. tools and software, according to Financial Times sources.
YMTC is a very competitive company and indeed has close ties with the Chinese government, but it is only one of Apple’s suppliers from China. There are dozens of Chinese companies that supply components for Apple’s iPhone and other products. In fact, even his OLED screens for Apple smartphones are sourced from his Beijing-based BOE Technology Group. That said, even without YMTC, Apple’s products are full of technology developed and manufactured in China. That may eventually change as Apple moves some of its production to India and other countries, but of course it will be a slow process.
