Chinese companies continue to have a terrible time with Trump at the head of the United States. Xiaomi might have largely escaped notice until now but Huawei has been Trump’s favourite target for ages. And, just before the outgoing US president is due to turn over the country to Joe Biden, Trump’s getting one last shot in.
A report from Reuters, citing unnamed sources, claims that the Trump administration has notified several of Huawei’s suppliers, including the likes of chip-maker Intel, that it is revoking certain licenses to sell products to the Chinese tech-maker. It also intends to reject “dozens” of applications to supply Huawei with tech.
The Huawei it is, then
Reuters reports that it has seen an email from the Semiconductor Industry Association claiming that the US Department of Commerces has signalled “intents to deny a significant number of license requests for exports to Huawei and a revocation of at least one previously issued license.” The process from here could take a little over three months to conclude but it might see Huawei further crippled in terms of outside supply.
When queried, Huawei, Intel and the US Department of Commerce all declined to comment on the specifics of the report. The news agency’s sources have said that there’s more than one revocation in the works, with one stating that eight licenses would be cancelled for four companies. If Intel is one of those, then Huawei’s notebooks division is in for a bad time as soon as processor stock starts to run low. It’s also possible that a source of Huawei’s flash memory might be in jeopardy.
Source: Aljazeera