According to six people familiar with the matter, Apple is lobbying the Trump administration to approve the purchase of memory chips from Chinese company CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies). The Pentagon has blacklisted CXMT over allegations that it is linked to the People's Liberation Army.

The iPhone maker has launched a lobbying campaign in hopes of gaining approval from the White House to alleviate the financial pressure caused by rising memory chip prices.
A person familiar with the matter said Apple had approached the Commerce Department more than a month ago, but the tech company is also lobbying other officials within the administration and allies in Washington.
Apple has not been banned from purchasing chips from CXMT or another Chinese memory chip maker, YMTC (Yangtze Memory Technologies). However, the Pentagon has placed both companies on a "Chinese military companies" blacklist. The so-called 1260H list includes dozens of Chinese enterprises alleged to have ties to the PLA and to harm U.S. national security.
On Thursday, Apple took the unusual step of raising prices on MacBooks and iPads, resulting in a $263 billion loss in market value—its second-largest single-day market cap decline ever. Apple said "unsustainable" memory chip prices forced it to pass costs on to consumers, following similar moves by other consumer electronics companies.
If Apple can include CXMT as a memory chip supplier, it would help ease the pressure the company faces from its own suppliers.