Apple is lobbying the US government for permission to purchase memory chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a Chinese manufacturer currently placed on the Pentagon’s blacklist.
The move, reported by Cityam, signals that the tech giant is facing acute supply constraints that it cannot resolve through its existing, compliant supplier base.
The request underscores the growing tension between US national security policy and the commercial realities of the semiconductor supply chain.
CXMT remains on the US Department of Commerce’s Entity List, meaning any direct procurement would require a specific export license or waiver.
Apple’s willingness to seek such an exception suggests that alternative sources of memory components are either insufficient in volume or lacking in the specific performance characteristics required for its upcoming product cycles.
This development adds a new layer of complexity to the ongoing US-China technology decoupling.