U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked the CEO of Apple to reconsider partnering with China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC) and said doing so would pose a threat to Apple customers as well as American national security.
Cotton sent a letter sharing his concerns with Apple CEO Tim Cook and requested answers about what prompted this decision and what steps would be taken to ensure the security of American consumers, according to a Sept. 15 news release on his website.
“I urge you to rethink Apple’s decision to do business with YMTC. If Apple continues to court untrustworthy Chinese companies like YMTC, it will do grave harm to its shareholders, its customers and our country,” Cotton said in the news release. “As there is bipartisan support to address the threat posed by YMTC, I must stress for you and your shareholders the risks of this partnership with an entity that may soon be the target of U.S. government action.”
Cotton highlighted the threats that using YMTC chips could pose to customers and national security and asked for the reasoning behind Apple's decision, the release reported.
Cotton called YMTC “a key player in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) campaign to dominate the semiconductor industry” and said the company has ties to other firms linked to human rights abuses that have been sanctioned by the U.S. government. He said Republicans and Democrats alike in Congress have called on President Joe Biden to add YMTC to the Entity List and said the firm may be blacklisted by the Commerce Department, according to the release.
Reports said YTMC would supply Apple with 3D NAND flash chips, which it currently gets from Korea-based Samsung and SK hynix, as well as Japan-based Kioxia, The Register reported Sept. 12. Apple would reportedly only use the YTMC chips for products “sold in China.”
A June report from China Tech Threat and the Coalition for a Prosperous America said YMTC has known ties to the Chinese military, and if Apple uses YMTC chips in its iPhone 14s, it will compromise the security and privacy of users' data, while also harming the U.S. semiconductor industry and benefitting China's.
The report highlighted the Chinese government's goal of dominating the global semiconductor market as part of its overall strategy of becoming a leading economic and political power. It also called Apple's stated commitment to privacy “hypocritical,” as the Chinese government has surveilled and censored hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens who use Apple products.
Cotton is a Harvard Law graduate who worked as an attorney until 9/11, at which time he joined the U.S. Army and served two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to his website.
