Apple shelved plans to use Chinese-made Yangtze Memory Technologies Co YMTC NAND flash memory chips in its products after the U.S. tightened export controls on Chinese technology companies.
It was expected that Apple would make its debut with YMTC NAND flash memory chips as early as this year and had already completed a lengthy certification process for the chipmaker’s products to be used in the iPhone.
Since its products are less advanced than market leaders such as Samsung and Micron, and because it can offer its chips at significantly lower prices, the chips were actually intended only for iPhones sold in China.
Earlier this month, the U.S. government issued a new decision aimed at cracking down on China-based technology companies. YMTC and dozens of other China-based companies were classified as “unable to be inspected,” meaning that US officials were unable to verify the YMTC’s ability to fully receive technology exports from the U.S. under the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and confirm that they are not being used in a way that undermines U.S. national security.
The U.S. Commerce Department is also investigating whether YMTC violated U.S. export controls by selling chips to Huawei, a blacklisted Chinese telecommunications company.
The crackdown came shortly after the resignation of YMTC CEO Simon Yang, who led YMTC’s research and development efforts in the field of 3D NAND flash memory.
America’s drastic export controls on China are an attempt to stifle Beijing’s technological and military advances by cutting off the country’s supply of certain semiconductor chips manufactured with US equipment around the world.
The sources for this piece include an article in ComputerWorld.
