(Image credit: Getty Images) As the ongoing component crisis worsens, even the biggest companies are no longer shielded. Apple, in a historic first, raised prices on a fleet of its products yesterday, saying it could no longer protect its customers from the soaring memory and storage costs. Now, the Financial Times is reporting that Apple is trying to lobby the U.S. government to secure official clearance to buy (cheaper) memory from China's CXMT. Go deeper with TH Premium: Memory CXMT is not outright banned by the White House, as it's not on the Defense Department's "Entity List," which prohibits Chinese companies entirely on national security grounds. Instead, it's listed in the 1260H list, which still designates it as a Chinese military company, and doing business with it would cause major reputational damage to an American company. Apple has apparently been reaching out to its allies in Washington to persuade the government to allow it to purchase RAM from CXMT.…