Senior members of Congress are pressing the Trump administration to cut off US companies from Chinese memory chip suppliers, setting up a collision between national security hawks and some of the biggest names in American tech.
The target list includes ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), both flagged on the Pentagon’s 1260H list of Chinese enterprises with military ties. The push comes as Apple has reportedly been lobbying for clearance to source DRAM components from CXMT, a move that lawmakers view as deeply counterproductive.
Congress draws a line in the silicon
House China Committee Chair John Moolenaar and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast have publicly characterized any sourcing from CXMT or YMTC as a “grave mistake.” Their argument is straightforward: buying memory chips from firms linked to China’s military apparatus undermines the administration’s broader strategy to secure domestic supply chains and maintain US dominance in artificial intelligence.
This isn’t a new fight. Back in 2023, Rep. Mike Gallagher pushed for CXMT’s addition to the Commerce Department’s Entity List after China took retaliatory trade actions against Micron Technology, the Idaho-based memory chipmaker. That request didn’t gain enough traction at the time, but the pressure has only intensified since.
