US fears iPhone supplier BOE is a Chinese military company

AppleInsider

An extra measure has been added to the proposed US defense budget that would see iPhone screen supplier BOE being investigated as a firm that potentially aids China's military.

BOE is an iPhone display supplier

BOE is the firm that despite once losing all its Apple orders over making unauthorized manufacturing changes, has become a significant supplier of iPhone displays and is expanding its facilities in the hopes of growing still further. It's also facing a potential ban from the US International Trade Commission (ITC), and could now be the subject of a defense investigation.

According to Reuters, the investigation has been added to the US defense budget currently under review. The budget is a bipartisan $852 billion defense spending plan for 2026, and has so far been passed by key committees in both houses of Congress.

However, when it was approved by the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, this further amendment was added. It asks the US Defense Department to consider whether BOE should be added to its list of firms alleged to help China's military.

"The People's Republic of China is subsidizing production of small display technology with military applications that subverts normal market competition and dominates global markets," says an entry in the committee's full list of amendments. "These Chinese government subsidies risk secure supply chains of critical military technology needed in the United States military."

The committee "directs the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing" over whether BOE or any associated companies "should be identified as a Chinese military company or a military-civil fusion contributor." This briefing is required to be delivered "not later than February 01, 2026."

There will only be such a briefing if the defense bill is passed, but it is expected to be. This National Defense Authorization Act will next go to the Senate floor, and while there is no announced schedule yet, a completed and approved bill must go to President Trump before the September 30, 2025, end of the fiscal year.

Should BOE be classed as a Chinese military supplier, there will still be no immediate impact on Apple. At present, being on the list reportedly does not prevent firms doing business in the US.

However, it will make a difference at some unspecified point in the coming years. Being on the list will then block such companies from supplying the US military.

This potential investigation also follows a 2024 letter from Congress to the Department of Defense concerning BOE. In the letter, the chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party claims that BOE was founded specifically "as a military and defense supplier."

Neither BOE nor Apple have commented on the newly proposed investigation.



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avon b7

The US, or more specifically, certain China Hawks within the US administration, are in a permanent state if paranoia with everything 'China'.

Yes, some elements of technology will be dual use. That has always been the case. It will always be the case. It's time to get over it. 

Nearly six years after the Huawei ban, the Pentagon is still applying for waivers (and getting them) because it cannot adequately source technology without Huawei being somewhere in its supply chain.

Yet, as soon as the US gets a sniff of an 'ally' using technology it deems risky, all hell breaks loose and the threats come flying in. 

Just look at the noise created over Spain's use of Huawei's OceanStor systems for wiretap storage.

It would be far better if the US took a more pragmatic approach with a large dose of common sense before the paranoia leads to even more silly decisions like the Nvidia H20 ban which seems to have finally been walked back after Jensen made a very level headed argument against it, even though Huawei A3 (Cloud Matrix all optical) SuperPoDs have now hit the market to compete with Nvidia's best offerings so the damage was already done.

And now to top it all off, China is fighting fire with fire by giving the US a taste of its own medicine by questioning the security of Nvidia chips. 

Jensen must be fuming by the damage done to his business by US policy. 

edited August 2

anthogag

It's easy to suspect Chinese companies because China isn't a democracy. China's government is always there planning for the long-term because they aren't going anywhere. A democracy is much more dynamic. The best route for China to get a long with the West is to become a democracy. 

blackwhitepanda

avon b7 said:

The US, or more specifically, certain China Hawks within the US administration, are in a permanent state if paranoia with everything 'China'.

Yes, some elements of technology will be dual use. That has always been the case. It will always be the case. It's time to get over it. 

Nearly six years after the Huawei ban, the Pentagon is still applying for waivers (and getting them) because it cannot adequately source technology without Huawei being somewhere in its supply chain.

Yet, as soon as the US gets a sniff of an 'ally' using technology it deems risky, all hell breaks loose and the threats come flying in. 

Just look at the noise created over Spain's use of Huawei's OceanStor systems for wiretap storage.

It would be far better if the US took a more pragmatic approach with a large dose of common sense before the paranoia leads to even more silly decisions like the Nvidia H20 ban which seems to have finally been walked back after Jensen made a very level headed argument against it, even though Huawei A3 (Cloud Matrix all optical) SuperPoDs have now hit the market to compete with Nvidia's best offerings so the damage was already done.

And now to top it all off, China is fighting fire with fire by giving the US a taste of its own medicine by questioning the security of Nvidia chips. 

Jensen must be fuming by the damage done to his business by US policy. 

BOE, Tianma and CSOT are backed by the Chinese goverment. If you look at their shareholder structure, you will know.

9secondkox2

Th briefing is a long time away, but should be illuminating. 

If any of this is true, people are right to be concerned. 

Unfortunately, it’s often the case that smoke is a prelude to discovering fire. 

BOE is such an unnoticeable entity that something alarming must have come up to pay that much attention to it. 

Be interesting to see what comes of it. 

9secondkox2

anthogag said:

It's easy to suspect Chinese companies because China isn't a democracy. China's government is always there planning for the long-term because they aren't going anywhere. A democracy is much more dynamic. The best route for China to get a long with the West is to become a democracy. 

Not just thst, but they had a spy connected to Eric “the gas” Swallwell, had numerous spy balloons over the ISA, including military installations, had its scientists infiltrating American academic institutions, smuggling in biological agents that can destroy crops, etc. also, Chen and Lai were recently found to have been agents of the PRC conducting intelligence work under the guise of legal permanent residency (Chen) and tourism visa (Lai). And that’s just a drop in the bucket. 

In the USA, companies do their own thing. In China, the government has its hand in everything, even Apple’s data centers. In some cases, the company acts as an extension of the government itself. 

So it’s not just “being afraid of the unknown” or of something different. It’s having legitimate concerns that a proven adversarial nation will have ubiquitous reach inside American territory via the most poults smartphone in the planet. 

That’s a really sneaky thing if true. Is it true? We don’t know yet. But such a concern is valid snd it’s good that the DOD is looking into it. 

edited August 2

sequoia.vagrant

anthogag said:

It's easy to suspect Chinese companies because China isn't a democracy. China's government is always there planning for the long-term because they aren't going anywhere. A democracy is much more dynamic. The best route for China to get a long with the West is to become a democracy. 

I think 2025 has proven “democracy” is as loose of a term as the current admin wants it to be. Democratic elected governments are perfectly capable of human rights abuse, surveillance state, warmongering, and other atrocities on its citizens and worldwide. Remember, the Third Reich, Putin, and Trump are all “elected” through “democracy.”

blastdoor

anthogag said:

It's easy to suspect Chinese companies because China isn't a democracy. China's government is always there planning for the long-term because they aren't going anywhere. A democracy is much more dynamic. The best route for China to get a long with the West is to become a democracy. 

I agree with this, but unfortunately if you replace "Chinese" with "American" and "China" with "US" the statement is equally true. 

The US is now the kind of country in which the dictator fires the head of a statistical agency because he doesn't like the numbers (even though, with supreme irony, the numbers actually support his preferred interest rate policy, but that's a whole other subject). 

swat671

I don’t get it. What are they saying? The Chinese government/military funds/uses Chinese made technology/equipment? The US government/DOD does the same thing. Every country does. So what’s the issue? It’s not like they can use a screen on a smartphone to spy or anything.