The rising component costs are affecting consumers as well as manufacturers in the tech industry. Till now, a lot of companies have announced price hikes for their smartphones, laptops and tablets. Recently, Apple has also announced price hikes for its iPad, Mac lineup, HomePod devices and Apple TV in the Indian region, mentioning that it can no longer absorb the rise in component costs.

Though the price of iPhones is still not revised, with the shortage of memory and storage chips, it is assumed that the company may make that decision soon. To ease the rising costs, it is now reported that Apple is planning to buy memory chips from a blacklisted Chinese company.

Apple to buy memory chips from a blacklisted Chinese company?

According to a report by the Financial Times, Apple is lobbying the Trump administration for approval to buy memory chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT).

ChangXin Memory Technologies is China’s top memory chip maker, but it was blacklisted because of alleged connections to the People’s Liberation Army. While mentioning unnamed sources, the report reveals that the iPhone maker is seeking approval aimed at easing financial pressure on the company from rising memory chip prices.

CXMT was designated as a Chinese military company by the Defense Department under the Biden administration.  US companies are prohibited from exporting goods, software or technology to firms on the blacklist list without obtaining a license, which is generally expected to be denied.

Though Apple is not technically restricted in buying chips from CMXT, in doing so it may face challenges from the US government if it does not get the approval. It is said that Apple had also approached the Commerce Department more than a month ago and has since engaged with other administration officials and allies in Washington to seek approval to buy memory chips from this blacklisted company.

As per the report, if Apple’s request gets approval from the Trump administration then Congress is expected to object in this decision.

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