Apple wants to buy memory from CXMT, a Chinese company that's currently blacklisted by the US government

Last week, Apple raised prices across its entire hardware line. It was a decision born of the steep increase in component costs, specifically memory and storage, made because the situation had become "untenable" and it was no longer possible to shield its customers from rising manufacturing and procurement costs. The MacBook Pro saw one of the steepest price increases, by $300, specifically because of its advanced processor, memory, and storage configuration.

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The situation has reached the point where Apple is reportedly lobbying the US government and the Trump administration to allow it to buy memory chips from the Chinese company CXMT without ramifications. As for why it's lobbying the government, well, CXMT is currently on a list of companies that US-based tech giants like Apple shouldn't engage with due to alleged ties to the Chinese military.

Apparently, this Pentagon list doesn't have any legal ramifications: companies aren't explicitly banned or in legal trouble for procuring memory from a company like CXMT. However, CXMT is apparently also on another US Commerce Department list for a trade blacklist, which would certainly prohibit any such agreement with Apple for memory.

Clearly, this is a touchy political subject; even if the result is lower prices for consumers, there's seemingly no end in sight to the current memory and component crisis.

"Apple choosing to partner with a Chinese military company would be a grave mistake," John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House China committee, told the Financial Times, the source of this news. "Helping the [Chinese Communist Party] succeed in its plans to dominate critical supply chains will make our country's tech industry and economy more dependent on China at a time when we must build secure tech supply chains with our allies."

Geopolitics aside, the big issue with this statement is that building new or expanding existing ones is already underway. Still, it will take several years for the effects to be felt at the retail level. Consumer technology is currently in a tough spot, so from the perspective of a healthy market where hardware isn't prohibitively expensive, Apple making a deal with a company like CXMT does make sense.