Apple's RAM is on-package, not on-die. The memory is still a separate die which they buy from the same suppliers as everyone else.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Mac_Mini...
That whole square is the M1 package, Apple's custom die is under the heatspreader on the left, and the two blocks on the right are LPDDR packages stacked on top of the main package.
https://wccftech.com/apple-m2-ultra-soc-delidded-package-siz...
Scaled up, the M2 Ultra is the same deal just with two compute dies and 8 separate memory packages.
Re:The RAM shortage comes for us all
by mixermachine on Thursday December 04, 2025 @05:15PM
(#46153878)
Sadly everything in the general direction of RAM or SSD chips is getting more expensive because a lot of production capacity is redistributed to serve AI chips and everything around.
Even lower end GPUs are getting more expensive even if they are not really useful for AI. But they still contain <some> chips and ram which is in high demand.
So yes, Apple will likely also have to pay higher priceses when they renew their contracts.
Perhaps I don't understand something so clarification would be helpful:
I was under the impression that Apple's RAM was on-die, and so baked in during chip manufacturing and not a 'stand alone' SKU that is grafted onto the die. So Apple does not go out to purchase third-party product, but rather self-makes it (via ASML) when the rest of the chip is made (CPU, GPU, I/O controller, etc).
Is this not the case?