The US government is revoking some of the licences it issued to chipmakers including Intel to allow them to continue doing business with Huawei, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The decision by the Commerce Department comes shortly before the Trump administration is set to step down and Joe Biden takes the presidency.
According to the report, certain licences to sell to the Chinese company have been revoked and the administration intends to reject dozens of other applications to supply Huawei. The licences became necessary after Huawei was put on the so-called entity list in 2019, banning US companies from doing business with the Chinese group due to alleged security risks.
Huawei and Intel declined to comment, Reuters said. The Commerce department said it could not comment on specific licensing decisions, but said the department continues to work with other agencies to "consistently" apply licensing policies in a way that "protects US national security and foreign policy interests"
In an email seen by Reuters documenting the actions, the Semiconductor Industry Association said the Commerce Department had issued "intents to deny a significant number of license requests for exports to Huawei and a revocation of at least one previously issued licence". Sources familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was more than one revocation. One of the sources said eight licences were pulled from four companies.
Japanese flash memory chip maker Kioxia had at least one licence revoked, two of the sources said. The company, formerly known as Toshiba Memory, said it does not "disclose business details regarding specific products or customers".
The semiconductor association’s email said the actions spanned a "broad range" of products and asked companies whether they had received notices. The email noted that companies had been waiting "many months" for licensing decisions, and with less than a week left in the administration, dealing with the denials was a challenge.
Companies that received the "intent to deny" notices have 20 days to respond, and the Commerce Department has 45 days to advise them of any change in a decision or it becomes final. Companies would then have another 45 days to appeal.
