Apple is lobbying the government for approval to purchase memory chips from CXMT

Odaily Odaily报道: Apple is lobbying the Trump administration for approval to purchase memory chips from the Chinese chip company CXMT. Due to multiple factors causing memory prices to rise, Apple unusually raised the prices of MacBook and iPad this Thursday, leading to a $263 billion loss in its market value. Apple hopes to alleviate the financial pressure from suppliers by adding CXMT to its list of memory suppliers.

CXMT and YMTC have been placed on the U.S. Department of Defense's blacklist of Chinese military companies (i.e., the 1260H list). The U.S. Commerce Department planned to add CXMT to its Entity List last year, but the White House postponed the plan due to ongoing trade negotiations with China at the time. Currently, apart from Chinese companies, the global memory chip industry is monopolized by three companies: US-based Micron, South Korea's Samsung, and SK Hynix. (FT)