{"id":63847,"date":"2026-06-27T04:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/apple-seeks-blacklisted-chinese-chips-amid-rising-costs-john-bolton-pleads-guilty\/63847\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T04:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:38:18","slug":"apple-seeks-blacklisted-chinese-chips-amid-rising-costs-john-bolton-pleads-guilty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/apple-seeks-blacklisted-chinese-chips-amid-rising-costs-john-bolton-pleads-guilty\/63847\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Seeks Blacklisted Chinese Chips Amid Rising Costs; John Bolton Pleads Guilty"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Apple Inc. (<a href=\"\/stock\/AAPL\">AAPL<\/a>)<\/strong> is lobbying the <strong>Trump administration<\/strong> for approval to purchase memory chips from <strong>CXMT<\/strong>, a blacklisted Chinese firm, to combat a <strong>3x surge<\/strong> in DRAM prices.<\/li>\n<li>Former National Security Adviser <strong>John Bolton<\/strong> pleaded guilty to the unlawful retention of national defense information, facing up to <strong>five years in prison<\/strong> and a <strong>$2.25 million fine<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Ukraine deployed its new <strong>&quot;Flamingo&quot; cruise missiles<\/strong> in a deep-strike mission against the <strong>Titan-Barrikady<\/strong> weapons factory in <strong>Volgograd<\/strong>, Russia.<\/li>\n<li>Wall Street analysts have issued a <strong>25% upside<\/strong> target for <strong>Infleqtion Inc. (<a href=\"\/stock\/INFQ\">INFQ<\/a>)<\/strong>, citing its &quot;meaningful mispricing&quot; following a historic federal push for quantum technology.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)<\/strong> sentenced an unregistered immigration consultant for evading over <strong>$112,000<\/strong> in taxes on nearly <strong>$500,000<\/strong> of unreported income.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Apple Grapples with Rising Component Costs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Apple Inc. (<a href=\"\/stock\/AAPL\">AAPL<\/a>)<\/strong> has reportedly approached the <strong>U.S. Commerce Department<\/strong> seeking clearance to source memory chips from <strong>ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT)<\/strong>. The Chinese manufacturer is currently on a <strong>Pentagon blacklist<\/strong> due to alleged ties to the People&#39;s Liberation Army. Apple is attempting to mitigate financial pressure after contract prices for <strong>LPDDR5X 12GB<\/strong> memory reached approximately <strong>$120<\/strong>, a nearly <strong>300% increase<\/strong> since early 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The tech giant recently implemented <strong>20% price hikes<\/strong> across its <strong>MacBook<\/strong> and <strong>iPad<\/strong> lineups, citing these &quot;unprecedented&quot; semiconductor costs. While the current blacklist does not explicitly ban commercial transactions, Apple is seeking a formal &quot;blessing&quot; to avoid future regulatory risks. The move highlights the company&#39;s struggle to diversify a supply chain currently dominated by <strong>Samsung Electronics (<a href=\"\/stock\/SSNLF\">SSNLF<\/a>)<\/strong>, <strong>SK Hynix<\/strong>, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/MU\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"20\" title=\"Stock: MU\">Micron<\/a> Technology (<a href=\"\/stock\/MU\">MU<\/a>)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Legal and Geopolitical Developments<\/h2>\n<p>In a significant legal development, <strong>John Bolton<\/strong> pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of retaining sensitive government information. The case involved the sharing of over <strong>1,000 pages<\/strong> of diary-style notes with relatives during the preparation of his memoir. As part of the plea deal, Bolton will forfeit his <strong>government pension<\/strong> and pay a <strong>$2.25 million fine<\/strong>, with sentencing scheduled for <strong>October 28, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>On the international front, <strong>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> confirmed a successful strike on the <strong>Titan-Barrikady<\/strong> plant in <strong>Volgograd<\/strong> using domestically produced <strong>&quot;Flamingo&quot; missiles<\/strong>. The facility is a critical hub for Russia&#39;s military-industrial complex, manufacturing <strong>Iskander-M<\/strong> and <strong>Topol-M<\/strong> missile launchers. This strike marks a widening of Ukraine&#39;s campaign into Russia&#39;s industrial rear, utilizing missiles with a reported range of <strong>3,000 kilometers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Quantum Computing Market Momentum<\/h2>\n<p>The quantum computing sector is seeing renewed investor interest following <strong>President Trump&#39;s<\/strong> signing of two executive orders on <strong>June 22, 2026<\/strong>. These mandates direct federal agencies to deploy a scientifically relevant quantum computer by <strong>2028<\/strong> and accelerate the migration to <strong>post-quantum cryptography<\/strong>. <strong>Wedbush Securities<\/strong> initiated coverage on <strong>Infleqtion Inc. (<a href=\"\/stock\/INFQ\">INFQ<\/a>)<\/strong> with an <strong>Outperform<\/strong> rating and a <strong>$20 price target<\/strong>, suggesting the stock is undervalued compared to its peers.<\/p>\n<h2>Regulatory and Regional Stability<\/h2>\n<p>In Canada, the <strong>CRA<\/strong> announced the sentencing of <strong>Qi Wang<\/strong>, an unregistered immigration consultant, to a <strong>six-month conditional sentence<\/strong>. Wang failed to report nearly <strong>$495,000<\/strong> in income earned from foreign nationals between 2013 and 2016. The investigation, supported by the <strong>CBSA<\/strong> and <strong>FINTRAC<\/strong>, resulted in a total fine of <strong>$112,627<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in the Middle East, <strong>Anwar Gargash<\/strong>, diplomatic adviser to the UAE President, emphasized that a new <strong>framework agreement<\/strong> between <strong>Lebanon<\/strong> and <strong>Israel<\/strong> is a vital step toward regional stability. Gargash noted that entrenching state sovereignty remains the only guarantee for Lebanon&#39;s future, particularly as the region navigates tensions surrounding the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Apple Inc. (AAPL) is lobbying the Trump administration for approval to purchase memory chips from CXMT, a blacklisted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[4824,5706,5818,6098,6517,7403,7859,19726,19727],"class_list":["post-63847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-geopolitics","tag-cra","tag-micron-mu-stock-mu","tag-quantum-computing","tag-apple-aapl-stock-aapl","tag-samsung-ssnlf-stock-ssnlf","tag-cxmt","tag-infleqtion-infq-stock-infq","tag-tax-evasion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}