According to
Bloomberg, Apple is considering adding more options after Western Digital and Kioxia experienced the impact of raw material contamination affecting the entire memory supply chain. This can reduce risk after selecting multiple manufacturers to enter the supply chain, and China’s 3D NAND memory manufacturer YMTC may enter Apple’s supply chain.
At present, Apple is in contact with Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics, and Yangtze Memory Technology but there is no clear news that the relevant negotiations have been completed.
The semiconductor industry has a long history of strange incidents, such as power outages and fires are common problems, and earthquakes and flooding are not uncommon. The recent occurrence of raw material pollution by Western Digital and Kioxia is even more outrageous. Western Digital and Kioxia, which have the highest market share, can actually experience raw material pollution. The problem is that raw material pollution is your own responsibility. As a result, Western Digital turned around and announced that it would increase the price of flash memory to make up for the increase in costs caused by pollution. It is clear that these behaviors, whether true or false, have a negative impact on the industry as a whole, and individual consumers are also affected by mobile phone manufacturers. So Apple’s plan to add more memory manufacturers as suppliers is naturally the right choice.
Being able to enter the Apple supply chain is absolutely good news for manufacturers. This time, Apple is also actively negotiating with YMTC. As a flash memory manufacturer in China, YMTC is currently capable of producing 128-layer 3D NAND, which can be said to have a firm foothold in the flash memory industry. If an agreement can be reached with Apple, in addition to stable orders from major customers like Apple, it is estimated that more brands will choose to use YMTC flash memory. However, Bloomberg said that the discussions between Apple and YMTC are still at an early stage, and if Apple reaches cooperation, it will first hand over a small number of orders to YMTC, including 5% of the 3D NAND supply for Apple’s iPhone SE, and 3% to 5% of the flash memory supply for the upcoming
iPhone 14 series.