Media: Apple seeks US approval to buy chips from blacklisted Chinese supplier

Apple has launched a lobbying campaign to secure approval from the Trump administration to purchase memory chips from Chinese manufacturer CXMT, despite the company being placed on a U.S. military blacklist, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Financial Times.

The iPhone maker has approached the U.S. Commerce Department and other administration officials in recent weeks in an effort to ease rising memory chip costs, six sources familiar with the discussions said.

Apple is not prohibited from purchasing chips from CXMT or another Chinese memory chip producer, YMTC. However, both companies are included on the Pentagon's Chinese Military Company blacklist, also known as the 1260H list, over alleged ties to the People's Liberation Army.

The lobbying effort comes after Apple raised prices for MacBooks and iPads on June 25, citing "unsustainable" memory prices. The move erased about $263 billion from the company's market value in its second-largest single-day decline, according to the report.

Securing CXMT as a supplier would help Apple reduce its dependence on existing memory chip manufacturers as component costs continue to rise.

The report said the Pentagon briefly removed CXMT and YMTC from its blacklist in February before restoring both companies after opposition within the U.S. administration.

Any decision by the White House to support Apple's purchases from CXMT would likely face strong opposition in Congress.

Apple previously faced criticism in 2022 when it considered sourcing memory chips from YMTC for iPhones sold in China. Marco Rubio, then the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Financial Times that "Apple was playing with fire."

By Sabina Mammadli