TL;DR
Apple is reportedly lobbying Washington for permission to buy memory chips from China’s CXMT after raising Mac and iPad prices amid a global memory shortage. The episode matters beyond Apple because Europe has no major DRAM or HBM producer of its own, leaving it exposed to price shocks and supply limits.
Apple is reportedly lobbying Washington for permission to buy memory chips from Chinese manufacturer CXMT, a company on the Pentagon’s 1260H list, after raising prices on Macs and iPads because of the global memory shortage.
The reported request, cited in source material to the Financial Times via 9to5Mac and Engadget, came two days after Apple raised prices on some Mac and iPad models. Apple attributed those increases to higher memory costs, according to the source material.
The development is confirmed only as a reported lobbying push; Apple has not been shown here granting details publicly, and it is not clear whether U.S. officials will approve such purchases. CXMT, formally ChangXin Memory Technologies, is a Chinese memory maker, and its placement on the Pentagon list makes any Apple move toward the company politically sensitive.
The broader pressure is the memory market itself. The source material cites Counterpoint as estimating that memory prices have roughly quadrupled over three quarters, with some segments seeing year-over-year increases closer to sixfold. That price movement is hitting buyers across the hardware and AI supply chains.
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 Lacks Apple’s Options
The report matters because Apple still has several routes that Europe does not. It can buy from U.S.-based Micron, press its case in Washington, and, if cleared, reach toward Chinese supply. Europe has no comparable homegrown memory producer at scale.
According to the source material, the EU manufactures less than 10% of global semiconductors by value and is described by the European Commission as almost fully dependent on the United States and Asia. In memory, the gap is sharper: the major DRAM producers are Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron and a small fringe, with no European company in that top group.
That leaves European device makers, cloud providers, industrial firms and AI developers as price-takers. If memory costs rise or high-bandwidth memory is pre-booked by larger buyers, Europe has limited ability to redirect supply, improve allocation or soften the price shock.
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The EU Chip Target Slips
The 2023 EU Chips Act set a target of raising Europe’s global semiconductor market share to 20% by 2030, backed by plans to mobilize about €43 billion. The source material says the European Commission’s own figures now point closer to 11.7% by 2030.
The European Court of Auditors said in December 2025 that the 20% target was “very unlikely”, according to the source material. ASML has estimated that reaching the target would cost more than €250 billion, far above current funding levels cited in the report.
Europe does hold valuable semiconductor strengths, including ASML’s EUV lithography tools, Zeiss precision optics, research centers such as imec, CEA-Leti and Fraunhofer, and chipmakers such as Infineon, NXP and STMicroelectronics. But those strengths do not amount to domestic DRAM or HBM supply.
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Approval And Supply Remain Open
It is not yet clear whether U.S. officials will approve any Apple purchase from CXMT, what exact memory products Apple is seeking, or whether the reported talks would lead to large-volume supply. The source material does not provide a final U.S. decision.
It is also unclear how long the memory shortage will last, how far consumer hardware prices may rise, or whether European policy changes can improve access to DRAM and HBM on a useful timetable.
High-performance HBM memory
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Washington’s Decision Sets The Signal
The next marker is whether Washington grants Apple clearance to buy from CXMT or blocks the request on security grounds. Either outcome will send a signal to other hardware companies weighing cost pressure against geopolitical limits.
For Europe, the likely next debate is whether to put more policy weight behind advanced packaging, new memory architectures and lower memory demand, rather than trying to recreate the full global memory supply chain from scratch.
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Key Questions
What did Apple reportedly ask Washington to approve?
Apple is reportedly seeking permission to buy memory chips from CXMT, a Chinese manufacturer on the Pentagon’s 1260H list. The source material says the request followed Mac and iPad price increases linked to memory costs.
Why is CXMT politically sensitive?
CXMT is a Chinese memory chipmaker and appears on a Pentagon blacklist referenced in the source material. That makes any purchase by a major U.S. company subject to political and security scrutiny.
Why does this affect Europe?
Europe has no major DRAM or HBM producer of its own. That means European firms have less leverage when memory prices rise or when supply is locked up by larger buyers.
Does Europe have any semiconductor strengths?
Yes. Europe has major strengths in ASML lithography, Zeiss optics, research institutes and automotive or power chips. The gap is specifically in large-scale memory production.
Is the EU still on track for its 2030 chip target?
The source material says the EU is projected around 11.7% of global semiconductor output by 2030, below its 20% target. The European Court of Auditors called that target “very unlikely.”
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
