The Register40%
Chinese memory ban would cut off RAMpocalypse relief 67%
By Tobias Mann94%
7/16/2026, 11:15:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 25 faulty reasoning types, including False Dilemma, Pessimism Bias, and Recency Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 23.8% saturation with 143 hits. Analysis detected 1,166 faulty-reasoning hits from 600 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 61.2% and a BS Rank of 67% (5,539 of 16,721 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 66.90% of the article peer group.
Two up-and-coming Chinese memory vendors, YMTC and CXMT, could offer customers relief from shortages and skyrocketing prices, but not if US Representatives John Moolenaar (R-MI) and George Whitesides (D-CA) have anything to say about it.
In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made public on Thursday, the lawmakers urged the Trump administration to tighten restrictions on Chinese memory manufacturers, arguing that purchases of their chips by US companies would undermine Western memory makers and subsidize the People's Liberation Army.
Founded in 2016, the companies are relative newcomers to memory manufacturing.
CXMT produces dynamic random access memory (DRAM) used in everything from desktops and laptops to smartphones and servers, while YMTC produces NAND flash for storage applications.
Historically, CXMT and YMTC’s chips have trailed those from American and South Korean memory vendors like Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung.
But amid surging memory prices, several large PC manufacturers, including Apple, Dell, and HP, have reportedly begun qualifying the two companies’ memory for use in their products.
“US reliance on Chinese memory producers will expose Western manufacturers to a deluge of state-subsidized Chinese memory, putting our memory manufacturing base and supply chains at risk,” they argued.
Unlike logic chips such as CPUs and GPUs, memory is a commodity manufactured to a common spec.
While different chipmakers may make it to market with new products faster than others, ultimately they’re all building the same thing.
This makes it relatively easy to switch from one supplier to another based on whoever is offering the best price.
Moolenaar and Whitesides contend that China could subsidize memory exports in order to drive down average selling prices to the point that it’s no longer profitable for US and allied memory makers.
“Given these risks, we urge you to oppose efforts to facilitate the sales of Chinese memory chips abroad and further expand existing controls on Chinese memory makers to ensure they will never catch up to their Western counterparts,” the lawmakers wrote.
While CXMT and YMTC offer an easy and expedient alternative to existing memory suppliers, OEMs face hurdles to acquiring the memory.
While CXMT has been designated by the Department of Defense as a Chinese Military Company under its Section 1260H list, YMTC is subject to US export restrictions under the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List.
Export controls largely prevent the export of American technology, like chipmaking equipment, to listed parties, but they don’t stop US companies from purchasing their goods.
However, doing so is a dubious enough prospect that the Financial Times reported late last month Apple had asked the Trump administration for its blessing before engaging with either company.
Moolenaar and Whitesides would like to close what they see as a loophole, calling on the Trump administration to issue an executive order or agency directive prohibiting US persons and US-incorporated entities from procuring memory components from YMTC, CXMT, or any entity designated on the BIS Entity List or the DoD's Section 1260H list.
“The global memory shortage will likely require a whole-of-government approach to solve.
The answer to high memory prices is not dependence on subsidized Chinese chips but expanded manufacturing capacity, which will lower costs for US companies and consumers for decades rather than months,” the lawmakers wrote.
As we previously reported, memory manufacturers including Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix are working to expand manufacturing capacity, but the process of building new wafer fabs is a lengthy one often requiring four or more years to reach volume production.
Because of this, memory prices are expected to remain high through at least 2028.
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