US chipmakers are still selling millions of dollars of products to Huawei despite the government ban on the sale of American technology to the Chinese company, four people with knowledge of the sales told the New York Times. Companies such as Intel and Micron have found ways to avoid labeling goods as American-made, notably goods they produce outside the US. The components began to flow to Huawei about three weeks ago, the report said.
American companies may sell technology supporting current Huawei products until mid-August. The ban on components for future Huawei products is already in place. It’s not clear what percentage of the current sales were for future products. The sales have most likely already totaled hundreds of millions of dollars, the NYT's sources estimated.
The US government is aware of the sales, according to the report, but officials are split about how to respond. Some feel that the sales violate the spirit of the law and undermine government efforts to pressure Huawei, while others are more supportive because it lightens the blow of the ban for American corporations. Huawei has said it buys around USD 11 billion in technology from US companies each year.
Intel and Micron declined to comment.
In an earnings call on 25 June, Micron’s CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said the company stopped shipments to Huawei after the Commerce Department’s action last month. However, it resumed sales about two weeks ago after Micron reviewed the entity list rules and “determined that we could lawfully resume” shipping a subset of products, Mehrotra said. “However, there is considerable ongoing uncertainty around the Huawei situation,” he added.
