The US Is Worried That The IPhone BOE Screen Supplier Is A Chinese Military Company

Illustration of the iPhone from Apple (photo: Doc. apple)

JAKARTA A new amendment has been added to the draft US defense budget that will investigate BOE, an iPhone screen supplier, for allegedly assisting the Chinese military.

BOE, which has lost all orders from Apple due to unlicensed manufacturing changes, is now a significant iPhone screen supplier and is expanding its facilities to increase capacity. However, the company faces a potential ban from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and is now the subject of a defense investigation.

The investigation, included in the USD 852 billion defense budget draft for 2026, which has been approved by key committees in the House of Representatives and the US Senate. The amendment, submitted by the US House Armed Forces Committee, asked the US Department of Defense to consider whether BOE should be included in the list of companies suspected of assisting the Chinese military.

China's People's Republic subsidizes the production of small screen technology with military applications, which disrupt normal market competition and dominates the global market, said one entry on the committee's amendment list. This Chinese government subsidy jeopardizes the critical military technology supply chain needed by the US military.

The committee asked the US Defense Minister to provide a report on whether BOE or a related company should be identified as a Chinese military company or a civilian-military fusion contributor. This report must be submitted no later than February 1, 2026.

This investigation will only be carried out if the Draft Law on National Defense Authorization is passed, which is expected to take place. The bill will be discussed in the Senate, and must be approved and sent to President Donald Trump before the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025.

If BOE was classified as a Chinese military supplier, there would be no immediate impact on Apple. Currently, the list is reportedly not preventing companies from doing business in the US. However, in the future, the company on this list will be barred from supplying the US military.

The investigation also follows a letter from the US Congress in 2024 to the Department of Defense regarding BOE. In the letter, the chairman of the Special Committee of the Chinese Communist Party stated that the BOE was specially founded as a military and defense supplier.

Neither BOE nor Apple have commented on this new investigation.