- The Trump administration has been accused of worsening the semiconductor shortage.
- Amid the AI boom and a memory shortage, Apple is seeking permission to use Chinese chips.
- Meanwhile, China’s CXMT has been added to Americans’ “blacklist.”
The administration of US President Donald Trump could exacerbate the memory shortage for electronics by revising policies that support microchip manufacturing, while Apple is asking for permission to purchase components from the Chinese company ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT). This was reported by the Financial Times.
This week, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna sent a letter to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in which he accused the Trump administration of undermining efforts to build domestic memory manufacturing in the US.
“Trump Administration may have undermined this progress – and by extension, paved the groundwork for the surge in consumer electronics pricing we are experiencing. Recent reporting suggests the Commerce Department may have interfered in existing CHIPS and Science Act funding promised to Samsung and SK Hynix,” Khanna wrote.
He also asked the administration to explain whether US companies would be allowed to buy memory chips from Chinese manufacturers, including CXMT, and how the government plans to minimize the economic and security risks of such a move.
Apple Seeks an Alternative Amid the AI Boom
According to the FT, Apple is lobbying for permission to purchase memory chips from CXMT, as global demand has surged due to massive investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The company cited rising memory prices as the main reason for increasing MacBook and iPad prices by about 20%. Similarly, Dell and HP have already revised prices this year.
At the same time, Khanna warned that reliance on Chinese suppliers could create new risks for the US.
“If US or Korean firms are unable to meet American demand, it potentially could lead manufacturers of consumer electronics to turn to PRC memory chip makers for their supply, including CXMT. Needless to say, it is not in our nation’s interests to increase our dependency on PRC supply chains,” he noted.
CXMT is on the Pentagon’s “blacklist” over alleged ties to the Chinese military. The company denies the accusations. Formally, this does not prohibit US corporations from buying its products, but it significantly increases the political risks of such deals.
The Standoff With China Goes Beyond AI Models
The new round of debate coincided with a sharp strengthening of Chinese companies’ positions in the artificial intelligence market.
After Moonshot AI unveiled the open model Kimi K3, it topped the Frontend Code Arena rankings, beating Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5. It later emerged that the model’s launch triggered a sell-off in shares of US chipmakers, as investors began to doubt that demand for expensive AI hardware would remain as high:
Against this backdrop, the Trump administration has already said it intends to scrutinize open Chinese models, including Kimi K3 and GLM-5.2, for possible use of OpenAI and Anthropic technologies, and did not rule out imposing sanctions.
In parallel, the US is revisiting its own policy for supporting semiconductor manufacturing. The Chips and Science Act, passed in 2022, provided $49 billion in grants to develop the US chip industry. In particular, Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix received funding to build manufacturing capacity in the US.
However, Donald Trump criticized the program during the election campaign, arguing that instead of subsidies, it would be more effective to encourage production localization through tariffs. Howard Lutnick previously said the grants were being reviewed, which, in his view, may have been “too generous.”
In the letter, Ro Khanna urged the Department of Commerce to clarify which funding agreements could be revised or delayed. As of publication, the agency had not officially commented on the situation.
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