NEW YORK / WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration has notified several Huawei suppliers, including chip maker Intel, that it is revoking certain licenses to sell to the Chinese company and intends to reject dozens of other applications to supply the Chinese company. Telecommunications firm, people familiar with told Reuters the matter.
The action against Huawei Technologies – probably the latest against the company under the administration of Republican President Donald Trump – is the latest in a long-running effort to weaken the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, which he says it is a threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy. interests.
The warnings came amid a wave of U.S. action against China in the last days of the Trump administration. Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as president Wednesday.
An Intel Corp spokesman did not make any immediate comments and a Commerce Department spokesman did not immediately return requests for comment.
In an email seen by Reuters documenting the actions, the Semiconductor Industry Association said Friday that the Commerce Department had issued “the intent to deny a significant number of license applications for exports to Huawei and revocation of at least one previously issued license “. Sources familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was more than one revocation.
The email indicated that the shares covered a “wide range” of products from the semiconductor industry and asked companies if they had received notices.
The email indicated that companies had been waiting “many months” to make licensing decisions and that there was less than a week left in the administration, dealing with it was a challenge.
A spokesman for the semiconductor group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States put Huawei on a Commerce Department “list of entities” in May 2019, citing national security concerns, restricting suppliers from selling U.S. products and technology to the company.
But some sales were allowed and others refused as the United States tightened restrictions on the company, including expanding U.S. authority to require licenses to sell overseas semiconductors with technology. American.
Prior to the last action, some $ 150 billion worth of licenses in goods and technology were pending, said a person familiar with the matter, who had been suspended because several U.S. agencies could not agree on whether they had to be granted.
Reports by Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper; edited by Chris Sanders and Jonathan Oatis