Apple has no excuse to be cornered when it had $300B in cash sitting. They f’ed up big time.
Why have pants down exposure to the market prices? Specially when they have 300B in the bank and a fab costs what 20-30B?
They are lucky they did not get squeezed out of tsmc too, otherwise they would have to re release the iPhone X in 2027.
What makes it risky? Do you think that Apple will pivot into something that doesn't require RAM? Maybe like an IBM, they pivot to services?
Some of their treasury (Non-Current Marketable Securities) could be bonds that are invested with targeted contracts for trade-secret benefits.
Say TSMC needs capital, and say Apple has spare capital: they are both likely to agree to an investment where Apple gets contractual benefits that other customers do not.
I would expect Apple to be very aggressively investing into suppliers to get results that strongly benefits Apple and perhaps that disadvantages competitors.