Chinese memory maker CXMT has waded into the Apple memory sourcing battle, suing the US Pentagon for its placement on the Chinese Military Company Blacklist, or 1260H list. The list is made up of companies that the Pentagon says are a potential risk to US national security, due to their links to the China’s People’s Liberation Army.
As Apple continues to struggle in getting its hands on enough memory chips for its Mac and iPhone devices, thanks to the AI industry’s insatiable appetite for RAM, it continues to meet roadblocks as it attemots to get the okay to purchase chips from Chinese memory supplier CXMT.
While Apple is not required to get U.S. approval before buying chips from the Chinese companies, doing so would help them prevent the wrath of the Trump administration. In June, Apple petitioned the administration for permission to purchase memory chips from the blacklisted supplier
Now, CXMT has stepped up, suing the Pentagon on Friday over being included on the Chinese Military Company Blacklist, or 1260H list, reports Reuters.
While CXMT has been classified as a risk by the Pentagon since January 2025, it insists that it is not affilated with the Chinese military, and is not a military company, only providiing chips for civilian and commercial use.
While it appeared CXMT would get a break back in February 2026, as the Pentagon briefly announced that CXMT would be removed from the list, later that day, it revoked the notice with no explanation.
In June, the Pentagon said CXMT was “directly affiliated with MIIT and indirectly affiliated with SASAC,” referring to the Chinese government-controlled Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as well as the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
It should be noted that CXMT being on the US blacklist doesn’t specifically block it from making a deal with CXMT, and Apple also doesn’t apparently have plans to use the chips in any products intended for US customers. However, it would likely block the Defense Department from buying Apple products, as the Defense Department is not allowed to make agreements with companies on the blacklist, nor use products or services from third parties that use components from blacklisted companies. That means Apple could see a loss of sales to US government agencies.
Also, Apple would undoubtedly prefer to not anger the Trump administration.
Believe it or not, there is a worse list to be on than the 1260H Chinese Military Company Blacklist. Those residing on the Entity List face much worse consequences, as they are blocked from trade with all companies in the U.S.
That means that if Apple did go ahead with the CXMT memory deal without the official okey-dokey, the memory supplier could be placed on the Entity List, once again wrecking Apple’s plans for its new supply of memory chips.
Stay tuned folks, we’ll keep you posted.
