Another Huawei restriction from U.S. Commerce Department
The U.S. Commerce Department has added another restriction on sales to the Chinese telecom giant: This one requires any manufacturer selling chips that may be eventually sold to Huawei to get a license.
The U.S. Commerce Department banned the export of U.S. technology to Huawei in May 2019. In May 2020, it added a rule specifying that overseas manufacturers of semiconductors need a license from the U.S. before selling them to the Chinese company, if they use U.S. equipment or technology to produce chips according to Huawei designs.
Today, the U.S. further tightened restrictions on Huawei’s access to chips by requiring chip manufacturers to get a license even if they are selling chips not designed by Huawei but intended for Huawei’s use.
“‘This kills Huawei,’ said one industry executive, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters,” reports the Washington Post: “Any chip made anywhere in the world by anyone is subject to this.”
- “Congress now is trying to pull together hundreds of millions of dollars to help subsidize the removal of this equipment from U.S. networks,” reports Politico. “Only a few dozen small companies use it currently,” but both Republican and Democratic lawmakers “are aligned in seeking this subsidy funding and had weighed including it in the recent stalled coronavirus relief negotiations.”
