BlockBeats News, July 25th. According to the WSJ, Apple and Micron have been engaged in intense lobbying regarding whether to allow Chinese storage chips into Apple's supply chain. The Trump administration is facing a policy choice between reducing consumer electronics prices and promoting domestic semiconductor production in the U.S.

The report stated that Apple CEO Tim Cook and executives recently presented a proposal to President Trump and U.S. officials such as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. They hoped to use chips from Chinese storage chip manufacturers ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC) in Apple products sold in markets outside the U.S.

Apple believes that introducing Chinese suppliers will help alleviate the global storage chip shortage and reduce consumer costs. However, Micron opposes this plan, stating that allowing Chinese companies to supply chips to U.S. tech firms could weaken the U.S. domestic storage chip industry.

Micron is currently the largest storage chip manufacturer in the U.S. The company's executives warned that Chinese companies could have a similar impact on the U.S. semiconductor industry as seen in the steel and manufacturing sectors. They advocate solving the supply issue by accelerating the construction of domestic factories in the U.S.

Meanwhile, surging AI data center demand has driven a significant increase in storage chip prices. Over the past year, storage chip prices are said to have risen several times, weakening Apple's previous bargaining power with suppliers. Apple, on the other hand, accuses Micron of having excessively high profit margins and believes its production expansion speed is inadequate.

Micron stated that the company plans to invest $250 billion in the U.S. to expand storage chip capacity and emphasized the importance of advanced storage technology for U.S. strategic competitiveness.

Analysts believe that this dispute highlights a contradiction within the Trump administration's two core objectives: on one hand, aiming to lower costs for U.S. consumers, and on the other hand, seeking to reduce reliance on the Chinese semiconductor supply chain and enhance domestic manufacturing capabilities.