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Pressures from the US have apparently led to Apple halting some of its plans to use chip technology that originates from China. The company is now putting its plan to use YMTC (Yangtze Memory Technologies Co.) memory chips on hold.

According to a NikkeiAsia report, multiple sources close to the matter have revealed that the halting of the plan arrives after the latest rounds of US export controls that were imposed against the Chinese tech sector. Furthermore, the news is also indicative of Washington’s crackdown and is disrupting the supply chain as well. Notably, the Cupertino based giant had already completed the process to get approval to use the YMTC’s 18 layer 3D NAND flash memory and also got it certified before using it on iPhones.

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However, the US government has since put out tighter restrictions around exports from China earlier this month. Interestingly, YMTC’s 128 layer chips are one or two generations behind competition like Samsung and Micron, but they are also around 20 percent cheaper than other leading rivals. Now, growing geopolitical pressure and criticism from US lawmakers have apparently led to Apple halting its plans for this deal.

As per one of the sources, “The products have been verified, but they did not go into the production lines when mass production of the new iPhone began.” Another source added that “YMTC is government-subsidized so they can really outprice competitors.” Meanwhile, Brent Fredberg Brandes Investment Partners’ director of investments stated that “Apple may continue wanting to use YMTC in the local market for China. But the way the regulations are set up currently, it’s very unlikely that YMTC will even be able to supply the kind of NAND chips in a couple of years that Apple would want.”

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