NEW YORK / WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has informed Huawei suppliers, including chipmaker Intel, that they are revoking some licenses for its sale to the Chinese company and expect dozens of other claims refused to supply the telecommunications company, people familiar with the case told Reuters.
The action – perhaps the last one against Huawei Technologies under Republican President Donald Trump – is the latest in a long-running effort to weaken the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker. , which Washington sees as a national security threat.
The calls came amid U.S. efforts against China in the final days of the Trump administration. Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as president on Wednesday.
A spokesperson from Intel Corp declined to comment. Trade said it could not comment on specific licensing decisions, but said the department continues to work with other organizations to consistently implement licensing policies in a way that is “appropriate. defense of U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. “
In an email that saw Reuters report on the actions, the Semiconductor Industry Association said Friday that the Commerce Department had “intentions to reject a large number of license applications for export to Huawei and revoke co-operation. at least one license previously issued. “Sources familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was more than one revocation. One of the sources said that eight licenses had been granted. out of four companies.
At least one license was revoked, Japanese memory chip maker Kioxia Corp, two sources said. The company, formerly known as Toshiba Memory Corp, said it did not “disclose business details of specific products or customers.”
The semiconductor association’s email stated that the actions spanned a “wide range” of products in the semiconductor industry and asked companies if they had received notifications.
The email noted that companies had been waiting “many months” for licensing decisions, and with less than a week left in administration, dealing with the denials was a challenge.
A spokesperson for the semiconductor group did not respond to a request for comment.
Companies that have received the “expect to refuse” notices have 20 days, and the Department of Commerce has 45 days to advise them of any change in a decision or it will be final. Companies would have a further 45 days to apply.
The United States placed Huawei on the Commerce Department’s “entity list” in May 2019, restricting suppliers from selling U.S. goods and technology.
However, some sales were sanctioned and others were rejected as the United States tightened the crackdown on the company, in part by extending U.S. authority to apply for licenses for the sale of semiconductors manufactured overseas. over with American technology.
Prior to the latest act, some 150 licenses were pending U.S. $ 120 billion worth of goods and technology, which was maintained because several U.S. agencies could not agree on whether to issue them, said a former familiar with the matter.
A further US $ 280 billion of product and technology license applications for Huawei have not yet been processed, the source said, but are now more likely to be rejected.
A rule in August stated that products with 5G capabilities were likely to be rejected, but that the sale of less sophisticated technology would be decided on a case-by-case basis.
The United States made its latest decisions during a half-dozen meetings beginning Jan. 4 with senior officials from the Commerce, State, Defense and Energy departments, the source said. Officials developed detailed guidelines on what technologies were capable of 5G, and then implemented that standard, the person said.
That meant issuing a rejection for the majority of about 150 disputed applications, and revoking the eight licenses to those that were consistent with the. latest rejection, the source said.
U.S. action came after pressure from Trump’s recent secretary of state in the Commerce Department, Corey Stewart, who wanted to push through China’s harsh policies after he was eventually hired for a two-month stint in the organization the administration.
Trump has targeted Huawei in other ways. Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, was arrested in Canada in December 2018, on a U.S. warrant. Meng, the daughter of the founder of Huawei, and the company itself have been accused of misleading banks about their business in Iran.
Meng has declared her innocence. Huawei has denied allegations of treason and pleaded not guilty to the lawsuit, which also includes allegations of violating U.S. sanctions. against Iran and conspiring to steal trade secrets from American technology companies.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper; edited by Chris Sanders, Jonathan Oatis and Lincoln Feast.)