It would take 5-10 years to design and verify a RAM design that comes anywhere close to the performance of modern day memory. Plus millions in NRE.

Why, is the idea that they would be starting from scratch, inventing it from first principles?

I would guess patents. If you don’t get the rights for an for an existing design, you need to build your own from the ground up

So if they start now, they'll be immune to shortages in 5-10 years.

It's a no brainer.

	▲	coldtea 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		They'd have their own design in 5-10 years. Immune to shortages no. They're not suffering shortages because they don't have their own design, they suffer shortages because the whole supply chain has issues, starting from required minerals and going all the way to shipping. And like the final product (commercial RAM) now goes to AI which pays better, processes/materials/factory utilization to make RAM would continue to go to another industry and not Apple, if that pays better then.