Apple Lobbies Trump Administration This Week for Permit to Buy Chips from Blacklisted Chinese Supplier

According to Financial Times, Apple is lobbying the Trump administration on June 26 for permission to purchase memory chips from Yangtze Memory Technologies, a Chinese supplier blacklisted by the U.S. military. The company seeks to ease cost pressures as AI-driven demand pushes memory chip prices higher.

Apple announced price increases on iPad and MacBook this week, stating it can no longer absorb rising memory and storage costs alone. Yangtze Memory, China's largest memory chip maker, was designated a Chinese military enterprise by the U.S. Department of Defense and added to the Commerce Department's Entity List, requiring export licenses that are typically denied.