After raising its prices.. Apple seeks to buy memories from a banned Chinese company technology

The American company Apple tried to obtain government approval to import memory chips directly from a Chinese company that was placed on the ban list by the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon).

This coincides with Apple already raising the prices of a number of its products, such as MacBook computers and iPad tablets. In its statement, the company attributed the reason for raising the prices of these products to the high prices of random memories and the cost of importing them, according to what Bloomberg reported in a report the day before yesterday, Saturday.

Apple believes that purchasing memory chips from the Chinese company CXMT contributes to reducing the effects of the chipset crisis that the technology sector in general is suffering from as a result of the increasing demand from artificial intelligence data centers.

The challenge is that CXMT is one of the companies that the Pentagon has blacklisted under the pretext of suspected links to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, and therefore Apple or any other company cannot import its chips.

The Financial Times report indicates that Congress may object to Apple’s dealings with the Chinese company even if it obtains the approval of the government of US President Donald Trump.

For his part, John Moolenaar, Republican Chairman of the China Committee in the US House of Representatives, explained in his interview with the British newspaper the Financial Times two days ago that if Apple cooperates with CXMT, it will be assisting the Chinese Communist Party in implementing its plans to control supply chains, which will make the American economy and its companies more dependent on Chinese companies.

Molinar continued his speech, saying: “Apple’s choice of alliance with a Chinese military company is a grave mistake,” noting that American companies must rely on the supply chains of their allies.

It is noteworthy that Apple faced several criticisms when it tried to buy memory chips from another Chinese company in 2022.

Why has Apple now raised its prices?

Apple was able to acquire large quantities of random memories necessary to operate its computers and various products in 2023, with the recession that prevailed in the random memory sector due to weak demand.

The company was relying directly on that stock until it began to run out and the company needed to buy new random memories, which forced it to raise the prices of memories in products such as iPad and MacBook computers.

Although iPhones did not suffer from price increases this time, it is expected that the company will need to raise phone prices as the chipset crisis worsens.

Apple was not the only company that raised the prices of its products in recent days, as it was followed by Microsoft, which announced an increase in the prices of Xbox platforms.

According to a report published by the American technical website 9to5Mac, Apple is anticipating the launch of its first foldable phone this fall under the name “iPhone Ultra,” in addition to the “iPhone 18” in its various models.