Apple seeks approval to buy chips from blacklisted Chinese company, FT reports
Apple is seeking U.S. government approval to purchase chips from the blacklisted Chinese company, according to a Financial Times report. The move highlights the complex ties between the tech giant and Chinese suppliers amid ongoing trade restrictions.
Background
Apple is reportedly seeking US government approval to import chips from a blacklisted Chinese company for use in its products. The company in question is likely Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), a Chinese memory-chip maker placed on the US Commerce Department's "Entity List" in December 2022, which restricts American firms from doing business with it. YMTC produces NAND flash memory — the kind used in iPhones, iPads, and Macs for storage. Although Apple already uses YMTC chips in some China-market iPhones, expanding that would require a special license from the US government. The move underscores the tension between Apple's supply-chain needs and US-China tech decoupling efforts. The Entity List was part of broader US export controls aimed at slowing China's semiconductor advancement.