It’s considering expanding a roster of suppliers that already includes Micron Technology Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. after Kioxia Holdings Corp. lost a batch of output toin February, people familiar with the matter said. While Samsung and SK Hynix Inc. — the world’s largest makers of flash memory — are likely to pick up the slack, Apple remains keen to diversify its network and offset the risk of further disruption from the pandemic and shipping snarls, they said.
The testing and discussions are no guarantee Yangtze chips will ultimately ship. It’s unclear if the Chinese firm can convince Apple of its dependability, the people said. Yangtze Memory technology is at least one generation behind and could at best be a backup choice to Apple’s main suppliers like Korea’s Hynix and Samsung, they said. Even if Apple qualifies Yangtze’s components, it will need to gauge its reliability in terms of yields and quality.
Yet because memory chips are largely commoditized, Apple could conceivably decide to use Yangtze’s product in lower-end devices such as the iPhone SE, the people said. Representatives for Yangtze Memory and Apple declined to comment.
I'ᴍ sᴏ ᴄᴏᴍғᴏʀᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ᴍᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴍʏ ᴡɪᴛʜᴅʀᴀᴡᴀʟs ғʀᴏᴍ MarkdonaldTowns ᴘʟᴀᴛғᴏʀᴍ, ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜɪs ᴏᴘᴘᴏʀᴛᴜɴɪᴛʏ ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀs ᴀɴᴅ sɪsᴛᴇʀs ʜᴇʀᴇ's ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇʀғᴇᴄᴛ ᴏᴘᴘᴏʀᴛᴜɴɪᴛʏ ғᴏʀ ᴜs ᴀʟʟ ᴛᴏ ᴇᴀʀɴ. ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ her ᴘᴀɢᴇ