It has long been expected that Apple will choose YMTC, the first and only NAND flash manufacturer from China, as an additional supplier. YMTC is indeed on the list of NAND suppliers for the new iPhone 14, reports Business Korea.
Back in April, Bloomberg wrote that Apple was considering YMTC as an additional source for NAND flash memory for iPhones. Since Kioxia and Western Digital had experienced a major production outage just a few months earlier, it was concluded at the time that Apple simply wanted to use this option to protect itself in order not to run into bottlenecks in the NAND supply.
DigiTimes reported that samples of NAND flash chips from China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) were being validated by Apple.
YMTC should now be an Apple supplier
Even if there is still no official confirmation of this, these signs support the new report from the usually well-informed business magazine Business Korea. It states that YMTC is now on Apple's list of suppliers for NAND flash for the upcoming iPhone 14. The assumption that the iPhone 14 will be unveiled at the Apple event tonight is not too bold.
However, no details are to be expected from Apple about the manufacturers of individual components. Only subsequent teardowns of the iPhone 14 could confirm YMTC as a NAND provider.
Less dependency on South Korea
So far, Apple is said to have sourced NAND flash from Samsung and SK Hynix from South Korea, as well as Kioxia from Japan. The RAM has also been bought from Samsung and SK Hynix, which means it is heavily dependent on the South Korean storage giants. Apple was therefore one of Samsung Electronics' top 5 customers in the first half of 2022, according to the report.
The new partnership would not only reduce this dependency, but could also lead to lower ones contract prices for storage. From a more political perspective, the move could also be a “friendly gesture” towards the Chinese government to boost sales of Apple products in China. After all, YMTC is a government-supported company.