- author, joao da silva
- role, business reporter
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The U.S. government announced it has revoked some licenses that allowed American chip makers to export certain products to Chinese technology giant Huawei.
The Commerce Department did not say which licenses had been revoked, but U.S. semiconductor giants Intel and Qualcomm said they had been informed that some export licenses had been revoked.
Huawei did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
Since 2019, the U.S. has restricted technology exports to Huawei over its alleged ties to the Chinese military, with some exceptions granted to companies such as Intel and Qualcomm.
The Chinese government condemned the US government’s move against its companies.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the United States “overextends the concept of national security and abuses export controls to suppress Chinese companies without justifiable reasons.”
Some US lawmakers criticized President Joe Biden’s administration after Huawei’s MateBook X Pro laptop went on sale last month.
“Make no mistake about it, the Biden administration would not have taken this action if Republicans in Congress hadn’t held them accountable,” Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik said in a social media post. Ta.
Huawei has been hit hard by U.S. trade restrictions, but it appears to be making a comeback recently.
The Chinese company has been making a comeback, especially after launching the Mate 60 Pro smartphone in August.
In 2019, under President Donald Trump, U.S. authorities added Huawei to the so-called “entity list.”
This means that U.S. companies must obtain licenses from the government to export or transfer some technologies, especially because of concerns about their use by the Chinese military.
However, in the meantime, some US companies, including Intel and Qualcomm, were granted licenses to supply Huawei with technology unrelated to 5G.
The United States has imposed restrictions on several Chinese technology companies in recent years as tensions between the world’s two largest economies escalate.
Earlier this month, President Biden signed a law banning video app TikTok in the country unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company. TikTok filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block the bill.