Chinese Chipmaker CXMT Sues Pentagon to Get Off US Blacklist

CXMT Corp. filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Defense, seeking removal from a blacklist that identified the Chinese chipmaker as a supporter of the Communist country’s military.

The company said it designs chips for civilian and commercial use, not military applications, and has been erroneously placed on the list. The suit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, also names Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth among the defendants.

The Hefei, China-based company joins peers such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in seeking a removal from the list. The US and China are locked in a geopolitical battle for global supremacy in industries such as artificial intelligence, with CXMT emerging as one of the key Chinese manufacturers benefiting from a rush to AI hardware.

“CXMT is not a military company and has no affiliation with the Chinese military,” the company said in a statement after the filing. “Since its initial designation in January 2025, CXMT has continuously suffered reputational and commercial harm. It is pursuing this action to protect its reputation and business interests.”

In a sign of CXMT’s growing clout, Apple Inc. is said to be in talks to purchase its memory chips, alongside fellow Chinese supplier Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. That would be for use in Apple devices sold in China, Bloomberg News reported in July. The discussions have raised alarms in Washington, with a group of US senators urging Apple to drop its attempt to rely on Chinese suppliers.

CXMT said Friday that the US blacklisting won’t impact its day-to-day operations. The company is now the fourth-biggest maker of DRAM in the world. CXMT and Yangtze Memory were restored to the blacklist in June, after they were removed from a version that briefly appeared in February.

While the list carries few immediate legal repercussions, the Pentagon is increasingly using it to restrict companies’ abilities to contract with the American military or to receive research funding. A 1260H designation also serves as a warning to US investors, and is widely considered a red flag that can precede more punitive trade restrictions.

Read More: Pentagon Accuses Alibaba, Baidu of Aiding China’s Military

As China’s best alternative to international memory-chip suppliers, CXMT has become a symbol of the country’s effort to reduce reliance on foreign technology. Founded by US-trained chip veteran Zhu Yiming, CXMT is also working on developing its own high-bandwidth memory — the advanced class of semiconductor used in AI accelerators — though it made no mention of its progress in the field in its earnings release on Friday.

CXMT has overtaken Tencent Holdings Ltd. to become China’s largest by market capitalization.