The Trump administration has notified Intel Corp. and other tech companies that it is revoking licenses to do business with China’s Huawei Technologies Co. and rejecting new license applications, Reuters reported Sunday.
The latest move against Chinese tech companies comes just days ahead of Trump’s departure from the White House on Wednesday. The U.S. claims telecom-equipment maker Huawei is a threat to national security.
The Trump administration restricted U.S. companies from doing business with Huawei in 2019, but a handful — including Intel
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— had since been granted special approval to do so.
Citing unnamed sources, Reuters reported eight licenses have been revoked from four companies, and cited a Friday email from the Semiconductor Industry Association describing the Commerce Department’s intent “to deny a significant number of license requests for exports to Huawei.” Reuters said the vast majority of about 150 pending license applications, worth about $120 billion in goods and services, were denied.
The Trump administration has taken punitive action against a number of Chinese companies in recent months, including a failed attempt to ban TikTok and an executive order that forced the New York Stock Exchange to delist China’s three largest telecom companies.
It is unclear if the incoming Biden administration will continue the restrictions against Chinese companies, with some experts predicting the orders could be paused while the new administration reviews the cases.
