Apple is trying to get approval from the Trump administration to buy DRAM memory chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China’s largest memory-chip maker, despite the company being on the Pentagon’s blacklist over alleged links to the Chinese military, reports the Financial Times.
According to the report, Apple has spent the past several weeks holding discussions with the White House, the US Commerce Department and other government officials. The company is seeking assurances that buying chips from CXMT will not lead to regulatory action or force Apple to suddenly end the partnership if the US imposes stricter restrictions on the Chinese chipmaker in the future.
Apple’s interest in CXMT comes as memory-chip prices have risen sharply due to the AI boom. Companies building AI data centres are buying huge volumes of advanced memory, especially High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), which is used in AI processors from companies like Nvidia and AMD. To meet this demand, major memory manufacturers have shifted more production towards AI-related chips, reducing the supply of conventional DRAM used in smartphones, laptops, tablets and personal computers.
And this has pushed up prices for standard memory chips, increasing manufacturing costs for consumer electronics companies, including Apple. The company has already raised prices for some MacBook and iPad models after higher memory and storage costs became difficult to absorb. Adding CXMT as another supplier would help Apple diversify its supply chain, reduce dependence on a small group of manufacturers and strengthen its position during price negotiations.
However, doing business with CXMT is politically sensitive. The company has been designated by the Pentagon as a ‘Chinese Military Company’, meaning the US believes it has links to China’s military. While this designation does not automatically ban American companies from buying its products, it increases political and reputational risks.
Reports also suggest that CXMT has already been approved by an interagency committee for possible addition to the US Commerce Department’s Entity List, a much stricter trade blacklist that would make business with the company significantly more difficult by requiring export licences. This uncertainty is one of the main reasons Apple is seeking clear approval from Washington before moving ahead.
The proposal is expected to face opposition from US lawmakers, many of whom argue that buying chips from one of China’s most important semiconductor companies could strengthen Beijing’s domestic chip industry at a time when the US is trying to reduce China’s access to advanced technology. Meanwhile, Apple’s request has not yet been approved, and neither the company nor the US administration has publicly commented on the discussions.
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Ashutosh is a Senior Writer at The Tech Portal, largely reporting on new tech, and intersection of technology and business. Ashutosh’s career spans across nearly a decade of technology writing across multiple platforms and languages.
