Apple is seeking approval from the Trump administration to purchase memory chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies, a Chinese firm placed on a Pentagon blacklist, according to a Financial Times report. The iPhone maker has pressed the White House to ease financial strain caused by rising memory chip prices, citing unnamed sources. The White House, Apple and CXMT did not reply to Reuters requests for comment outside regular hours. The effort highlights challenges for major US tech firms as higher memory costs intersect with national security limits on Chinese chip producers. Apple contacted the Commerce Department over a month ago and reached other officials and allies in Washington, one source told the FT. CXMT, China’s leading memory chipmaker, was listed as a Chinese military company by the Defense Department during the Biden administration and approved last year for the Commerce Department’s Entity List by an interagency panel. US firms require a license, likely to be denied, to ship goods, software or technology to listed companies. Apple increased iPad and MacBook prices on Thursday, stating it could no longer absorb rising memory and storage chip costs tied to AI data center expansion.
