TL;DR
Apple is reportedly asking Washington for permission to buy memory chips from China’s CXMT, a company on the Pentagon’s blacklist. The move highlights a sharper problem for Europe: the EU has no major DRAM or HBM maker of its own.
Apple is reportedly seeking U.S. permission to buy memory chips from China’s CXMT, a move that underscores how the global memory shortage is reaching even the world’s best-funded hardware companies and exposing Europe’s weaker position in a market where it has no major domestic supplier.
The development was described in a June 29, 2026 Thorsten Meyer AI dispatch, citing Financial Times reporting. The dispatch said Apple’s lobbying came two days after the company raised prices on Macs and iPads, blaming higher costs tied to the global memory shortage.
CXMT, or ChangXin Memory Technologies, is a Chinese memory manufacturer and is identified in the source material as being on the Pentagon’s 1260H list. Any Apple purchase from CXMT would depend on Washington’s clearance, and the outcome of that request has not been confirmed.
The larger issue is supply. The source material says meaningful DRAM production is now concentrated among Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron and a small group of others, with no European company among the major producers. Europe also lacks a major maker of HBM, the high-bandwidth memory used in 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 Lacks Memory Leverage
The report matters because Apple still has options: it can buy from U.S.-based Micron, lobby U.S. officials, or seek permission to use a Chinese supplier. Europe, by contrast, has no comparable memory champion and limited influence over allocation or pricing.
That leaves European companies exposed as memory prices rise. The dispatch cites Counterpoint’s estimate that memory prices have roughly quadrupled over three quarters, with some segments rising far more year over year. For European device makers, cloud providers, automotive suppliers and AI firms, that means higher costs with little ability to shape supply.
DRAM memory chips
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EU Chip Goals Face Limits
The EU Chips Act set a target of reaching 20% of global semiconductor production by 2030, backed by about €43 billion in public and private funding. The source material says the European Commission now projects Europe at about 11.7% by 2030.
The dispatch also cites the European Court of Auditors, which in December 2025 called the 20% target “very unlikely”. It cites ASML as estimating that reaching the target would cost more than €250 billion, far above the current funding level.
Europe does hold strengths in other parts of the chip chain. The source material points to ASML’s EUV lithography position, Zeiss optics, research centers such as imec, CEA-Leti and Fraunhofer, and chipmakers including Infineon, NXP and STMicroelectronics. But those strengths do not amount to domestic DRAM or HBM supply.
“Europe has no memory of its own, no seat at the table, no leverage on what counts.”
— Thorsten Meyer AI dispatch, June 29, 2026
High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) modules
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Clearance And Supply Still Unknown
It is not yet clear whether U.S. officials will approve Apple’s request, whether Apple has reached any commercial agreement with CXMT, or how much memory the company is seeking. Apple has not been shown in the source material confirming those details directly.
It is also unclear how long the memory shortage will last, how much additional supply can be brought online, and whether European policy changes can reduce exposure before the next procurement cycle for AI hardware, PCs and servers.
Chinese memory modules
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Policy Focus Shifts To Chokepoints
The next test is whether Washington allows Apple to buy from CXMT and whether other large hardware buyers seek similar workarounds. Any approval could carry political weight because it would involve a Chinese supplier listed by the Pentagon.
For Europe, the near-term path described in the dispatch is less about building full chip self-sufficiency and more about using existing strengths: ASML, Zeiss, advanced packaging and lower dependence on scarce memory through right-sized hardware, local-first systems and more efficient AI models.
European DRAM suppliers
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Key Questions
What did Apple reportedly do?
Apple reportedly lobbied Washington for permission to buy memory chips from China’s CXMT, according to the Thorsten Meyer AI dispatch citing Financial Times reporting.
Why does CXMT need U.S. clearance?
The source material identifies CXMT as being on the Pentagon’s 1260H list. That makes any move by Apple to source from the company politically and legally sensitive.
Why is this a problem for Europe?
Europe has no major DRAM or HBM producer. That means European buyers depend on suppliers in Asia and the United States and have little control over prices or allocation.
Did the EU Chips Act solve this?
No. The EU set a 20% global production target for 2030, but the source material says current projections are closer to 11.7%, with auditors calling the target “very unlikely”.
What happens now?
The immediate question is whether U.S. officials approve Apple’s request. For Europe, the policy debate is likely to focus on chipmaking chokepoints, advanced packaging and cutting dependence on scarce memory.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
