Topline
U.S. officials have revoked export licenses that allowed U.S. chip makers Intel and Qualcomm to supply semiconductors to Huawei, according to several reports, in the Biden administration’s latest effort to clamp down on the Chinese smartphone and telecom equipment giant.
FILE PHOTO: Huawei's latest laptops are powered by Intel's Core 9 Ultra chips.
Key Facts
According to the Financial Times and Reuters, the Commerce Department’s order targets the export of Intel and Qualcomm’s chips used to power Huawei’s upcoming smartphones and laptops.
The Commerce Department confirmed to both outlets it had revoked some licenses for exports to Huawei but did not name the impacted U.S. companies.
While some of Huawei’s newest flagship phones use its own locally developed Kirin chips, most of its other smartphones and tablets use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors.
Last month, Huawei also launched its flagship MateBook X Pro laptop powered by Intel’s latest Core Ultra 9 chips—which features a neural processing unit for AI-related tasks.
Forbes has reached out to Intel and Qualcomm for comment.
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News Peg
The move to block chip exports to Huawei comes just weeks after Republican lawmakers in Congress criticized the presence of Intel’s processors on the Chinese tech giant’s new laptops. After Huawei’s launch, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo asking if she had approved the sale of Intel chips to Huawei. The letter said if the Commerce Department did not approve the export, “this would be unacceptable and a failure to enforce export controls against a blacklisted champion of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).” The two lawmakers then urged Raimondo to “immediately revoke all export licenses to Huawei.” At the time, Intel denied breaking any regulations in supplying the chips to the Chinese firm.
Key Background
Over the past few years, advanced semiconductors have emerged as a key diplomatic battleground between the U.S. and China, which has put companies like Huawei in the crosshair of sanctions. The efficacy of these sanctions, however, was called into question last year, after Huawei unveiled its Mate 60 Pro flagship phone powered by a locally-made 5G capable chip. The Kirin 9000S chip used onboard the phone was considered a breakthrough in Chinese chip making, as it was made using the advanced—but not bleeding edge—7-nanometer manufacturing process. In response, the Commerce Department opened a probe into the Kirin 9000S to see if any U.S. sanctions were flouted in the process of manufacturing the chip.
Further Reading
US revokes licences for supply of chips to China’s Huawei (Financial Times)
US revokes Intel, Qualcomm's export licenses to sell to China's Huawei, sources say (Reuters)
