(Adds Intel, background on US efforts on Huawei)
NEW YORK / WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (Reuters) – The Trump administration has notified several Huawei vendors, including chip maker Intel, that it is revoking certain licenses for sale to the Chinese company and plans dozens of other applications to supply the telecommunications company, to reject. familiar with the case, said Reuters.
The move against Huawei Technologies – likely the latest against the company under Republican President Donald Trump’s administration – is the latest in a long-running attempt to weaken the world’s largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, which it says threatens the nation’s security and US foreign policy. interests.
The statements came amid a wave of US actions against China in the closing days of the Trump administration. Democrat Joe Biden will take the oath of office as president on Wednesday.
An Intel Corp spokesperson did not immediately comment, and a trade department spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In an email seen by Reuters documenting the actions, the Semiconductor Industry Association said on Friday that the Department of Commerce “planned to withdraw a significant number of licensing requests for exports to Huawei and a withdrawal of at least one earlier. license issued “. Sources familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity said there was more than one revocation.
The email stated that the actions affected a “wide range” of products in the semiconductor industry and asked companies if they had received any notices.
The email stated that companies had waited “many months” for licensing decisions, and with less than a week in the administration, it was challenging to deal with.
A spokesman for the semiconductor group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States put Huawei on the trade division’s “entity list” in May 2019, citing national security concerns that restricted suppliers from selling US goods and technology to the company.
But some sales were allowed and others denied, while the United States raised restrictions against the company, including the expansion of the US authority to demand licenses to sell semiconductors made abroad with US technology.
Before the latest action, there were about 150 pending licenses for $ 120 billion worth of goods and technology, said a person familiar with the case, who had been held up because several U.S. agencies could not agree on whether to grant them. .
Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper; edited by Chris Sanders and Jonathan Oatis