Apple pushes for US clearance of Chinese memory chips as RAM prices soar, Lenovo foresees prolonged surge

Apple is lobbying the U.S. administration for a special import licence to procure DRAM chips from Chinese supplier CXMT, which is on the Pentagon’s blacklist. Tim Cook’s company faces a sharp rise in memory‑chip costs – up to three‑fold – that now represent around 27% of the bill of materials for the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro, prompting fears of higher device prices.

Lenovo, one of the world’s largest OEMs, warned that the current “RAMpocalypse” will not end soon. The company expects RAM and SSD prices to keep climbing well beyond 2030, driven by surging AI demand and the rapid expansion of data‑center capacity that outpaces new factory output from Samsung, SK hynix and Micron.