CXMT's DRAM capacity is completely locked up through 2027 — Huawei, Xiaomi, and other Chinese players have already claimed every available wafer. That leaves $AAPL in an awkward spot for memory supply in the China iPhone market.
This isn't just a procurement headache. It's a structural shift. When your competitors control the local supply chain, you're playing defense in your second-largest market. Apple's been navigating China risk for years, but memory allocation is a different kind of squeeze — one you can't just engineer around with a new supplier in six months.
Watch how this plays into iPhone ASPs and margin pressure in China. If Apple has to rely on pricier imports or alternative suppliers while local competitors get preferential access to domestic DRAM, that's a margin story, not just a logistics one.
This isn't just a procurement headache. It's a structural shift. When your competitors control the local supply chain, you're playing defense in your second-largest market. Apple's been navigating China risk for years, but memory allocation is a different kind of squeeze — one you can't just engineer around with a new supplier in six months.
Watch how this plays into iPhone ASPs and margin pressure in China. If Apple has to rely on pricier imports or alternative suppliers while local competitors get preferential access to domestic DRAM, that's a margin story, not just a logistics one.
