Sources: Apple is in negotiations to buy chips from CXMT and YMTC, two Chinese semiconductor makers on a Pentagon blacklist, for use in devices sold in China
THE SO WHAT
Apple exploring CXMT and YMTC for China-only devices underlines how supply security is now forcing region-specific hardware stacks, even when vendors are on US defense blacklists. Hardware and infra teams should plan for more SKUs, more compliance permutations, and less fungible global components over the next hardware cycle.
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