Trump team urges Apple to stop buying chips from China
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (photo: Getty Images)
The Trump administration does not want Apple to buy memory chips from China. However, the company could do so anyway, according to a statement by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, made in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
As the WSJ reports, insatiable demand for computer memory from companies building artificial intelligence data centers has caused a shortage of this critical component and sent prices for available products soaring.
Rising prices are forcing Apple and other consumer electronics manufacturers to significantly raise product prices. To ease supply shortages, Apple is turning to Chinese manufacturers.
After visiting an Apple factory in Houston, Lutnick said the Trump administration did not support that. He noted that there had to be other solutions to the memory problem, but using Chinese memory by American companies was not the best option.
Asked whether he had conveyed that message to Apple, Lutnick replied: "Without any reservations."
Sources familiar with the testing said Apple was testing memory chips made by Chinese companies CXMT and Yangtze Memory Technologies, which could be the first step toward using them in Apple devices sold in China.
Other US demands
Notably, Reuters reported today that the United States is preparing to tell 35 countries that they must choose a side in the artificial intelligence race between the US and China.
Choosing both sides could put them at risk of being excluded from the US-led coalition.
Reports also emerged that the United States intends to gain the authority to forcibly shut down dangerous artificial intelligence systems. This could happen if a new bill is passed.
