- Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has added to the prevailing pessimism surrounding the RAM crisis
- Of RAM intended for consumer electronics in 2026, “an estimated 15-20% is expected to shift to data centers by 2027, and that share could grow”
- Apple is trying to maneuver to use a major Chinese chipmaker to bolster its RAM supply lines, we’re told
Another negative sentiment has been aired about the RAM crisis, as a prominent leaker and analyst has stressed that data centers will consume even more consumer memory next year – and that Apple may look to China for help bolstering its RAM stocks.
Wccftech reported that Ming-Chi Kuo wrote on X and noted, “Of the memory capacity allocated to consumer electronics in 2026, 15-20% is expected to shift to data centers in 2027, and that share could grow.”
This is part of a picture Kuo paints in which Apple is not only concerned about memory costs, but more specifically the lack of memory supply, with LPDDR5 (low-power RAM for mobiles and laptops) dwindling significantly.
Kuo notes that this is the “real reason why Apple is lobbying the White House to keep CXMT off the Entity List,” meaning that in order to keep enough supply flowing, Tim Cook is trying to persuade the US government to allow Apple to use RAM made by Chinese chipmaking giant CXMT.
In short, it’s not about pricing per se, but about “managing DRAM supply risk” in light of what future shipment goals Apple has for its products, whether they’re Macs, iPhones, iPads, or anything else.
Analysis: call the cavalry?
Already at the beginning of the year we heard about how much RAM supply data centers (and AI therein) are set to gobble up in 2026, and things will not get better for the consumer in 2027. Not if Kuo is right and something like 20% (or more) of the consumer electronics memory supply will be diverted to data centers next year. It’s a worrying thought indeed, and represents an unwelcome prospect of ever-increasing prices for everything that has memory in it, from phones to PCs.
Apple is apparently trying to act to stave off the worst impact on its products, after recent price hikes, and interestingly, Kuo believes that Tim Cook is very much the CEO of the job, and that this is not a task that John Ternus, who will take over the reins of Apple later this year, should be blamed for.
Kuo notes, “Tim Cook is one of the few tech leaders who can still navigate both Washington and Beijing, so this is better handled before he steps down as CEO. Even if the effort goes nowhere, the media coverage may still leave the market with the impression that Apple tried but was limited by US politics. That may help ease frustration over price increases and longer delivery times.”
As for Apple’s upcoming Chinese chip-making savior, others have warned against relying on RAM from China to ease the current memory crisis. While Kuo points out that “CXMT states in its IPO prospectus that its capacity is far below domestic demand,” meaning there is supply available to feed through to Apple or other Western tech giants, that may not be the case in the future.
And as the vice president of a company that makes SSD controllers recently made clear, the Chinese government has significant influence over CXMT and other major memory chip makers in the country—and if the RAM crisis worsens, there may not be as much supply to sell abroad (although it would be more profitable for the companies involved).
It is of course a complicated situation to navigate, but as Kuo also touches on, it may be that Apple wants to be seen to do something. Cook may be fully aware that CXMT may not be the knight in shining armor that comes to Apple’s rescue, but even if it isn’t, he’s at least been seen making an effort to summon the cavalry.
Ultimately, with all the gloomy predictions of late – including Lenovo’s claim that RAM prices will ‘never’ come back down and we’re in a world with a ‘new normal’ for memory costs – it’s hard to believe that Apple has much room to maneuver in keeping a firm cap on the MSRPs of its Macs or other products going forward.
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