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 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.
