It was long expected that Apple would choose YMTC, China’s first and only NAND flash manufacturer, as an additional supplier. Now, YMTC is actually on the list of NAND suppliers for the new iPhone 14, report business korea,

was already in april bloomberg It is written that Apple is considering YMTC as an additional source for NAND flash memory for iPhones. Since Kioxia and Western Digital only had a major production shutdown a few months ago, it was concluded at the time that Apple only wanted to use this option to protect itself so as not to face NAND supply constraints.

Digitimes had to match informed ofThat the samples of China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Company (YMTC) NAND flash chips will be validated at Apple.

Now YMTC is called Apple supplier

Even if there is still no official confirmation of this, these signals are generally supported by a new report from the well-informed trade magazine business korea, It added that the YMTC for the upcoming iPhone 14 is now on Apple’s list of suppliers for NAND flash. The suggestion that the iPhone 14 will be unveiled at tonight’s Apple event isn’t very bold.

However, no details are expected from Apple regarding the makers of the individual components. Only the iPhone 14 post-teardown can confirm YMTC as a NAND supplier.

Less reliance on South Korea

As of now, Apple is said to have acquired NAND flash from Samsung and SK Hynix from South Korea and Kioxia from Japan. The RAM has also been purchased from Samsung and SK Hynix, which means it is heavily dependent on the South Korean storage giants. According to the report, Apple was one of the top five customers of Samsung Electronics in the first half of 2022.

The new partnership would not only reduce this dependency, but could also reduce contract prices for storage. From a more political point of view, this move is a “friendly gesture‘Towards the Chinese government to promote the sale of Apple products in China. After all, YMTC is a government-backed company.