Trump caught between Apple and Micron in fight over Chinese chips

Apple CEO Tim Cook proposed using memory chips from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies in products sold outside the U.S. to alleviate the global chip shortage and reduce consumer prices.

Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra warned administration officials that allowing Chinese suppliers would destroy the U.S. domestic memory chip industry, similar to China's role in U.S. steel and manufacturing decline.

CXMT and YMTC are on Pentagon and trade blacklists, and chip buyers have avoided them after they were deemed Chinese military companies.

The conflict forces President Trump to choose between cutting consumer prices and increasing domestic semiconductor production.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said the administration would pursue investments and economic relief while safeguarding national security.