The long-standing feud between Apple and Micron has erupted, and China's alternative production capacity may become the biggest winner.

According to Mars Finance, on June 27th, the trade dispute between Apple and memory chip giants such as Micron and SK Hynix continued to escalate this week. On Thursday, Apple announced a price increase for several products, including MacBooks and iPads, due to soaring memory prices, and issued a statement saying it "can no longer protect consumers." The news caused Apple's stock price to plummet, wiping out approximately $265 billion in market value. Just the day before, Micron released an epic earnings report that far exceeded market expectations, driving its stock price up by 13%. On the day of the earnings release, Micron CEO Sumit Sadana reflected on past failures, implying that Apple had used its negotiating advantage to drastically lower prices during the last industry downturn, severely weakening the company's ability to invest in production capacity and sowing the seeds of the current severe memory shortage. He further alleged that Apple's price-cutting behavior led to huge losses for suppliers like Micron and SK Hynix in 2022 and 2023, while Apple profited over $16 billion during the same period through its pricing strategy for different iPhone storage capacities. Market analysis points out that the long-standing feud between Apple and memory chip giants, coupled with Apple's recent forced price increase, may indicate uncertainty surrounding their long-term cooperation. On the other hand, Apple has proactively sought alternative solutions: lobbying the Trump administration to include Chinese companies like Changxin Memory in its supply chain. Analysts suggest this is Apple's most realistic solution at present, as they urgently need Chinese DRAM and NAND production capacity to counter the rising influence of competitors like Huawei and maintain Apple's market share in China and globally. Public information shows that Changxin Memory is about to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market with a valuation of $500 billion. As a core DRAM company in China, its current production capacity primarily supplies domestic customers. Its core customer base includes AI chip startups such as Alibaba Cloud, Huawei, and Cambricon, as well as terminal manufacturers like Xiaomi and Lenovo. Currently, the company's products focus on general-purpose DRAM while rapidly shifting towards HBM to support AI computing power.