According to people familiar with the matter, the Trump administration has notified several Huawei suppliers, including chip manufacturer Intel, that it is currently revoking certain licenses to sell products to Huawei and intends to reject dozens of other applications to supply Huawei. . This may be Trump's last action against Huawei before stepping down.
According to e-mail records obtained by Reuters, SIA said on Friday that the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced that it "will reject a large number of license applications for selling products to Huawei and revoke at least one previously issued license." The source said that more than one license was revoked, and another said it included eight licenses obtained by four companies. Among them, Japanese flash memory chip manufacturer Kioxia has been revoked at least one license. SIA stated in an email that these actions involved "a wide range of" products in the semiconductor industry, and asked whether the company has received notification. In addition, the email also pointed out that many companies have been waiting for supply applications for several months, but in the case of Trump's imminent resignation, how government departments "reject" approval will be a challenge.
It is reported that the company that receives the “intent to deny” notification has a 20-day response time, and the Ministry of Commerce will notify the company of any changes in the decision within 45 days, otherwise these changes will become the final decision. Related companies also have 45 Days to appeal.
In May 2019, the United States included Huawei on the "Entity List" on the grounds of national security, restricting suppliers from selling American products and technologies to the company. However, when the United States stepped up its sanctions on Huawei, it also approved some supply licenses, and even required companies that sell American technology and manufacture abroad to submit applications, which undoubtedly expanded the power of the United States.
People familiar with the matter said that before the latest action is taken, about 150 licenses, involving goods and technologies worth 120 billion U.S. dollars, are waiting to be processed. This is due to the inability of US agencies to reach an agreement on whether these licenses should be issued and they have been shelved. In addition, there are still US$280 billion of Huawei's goods and technology licenses that have not yet been processed, but they are now more likely to be rejected.
There is a rule in the Huawei ban updated in August last year that 5G-related products may be rejected, except for related technologies with less advanced technologies, depending on the specific circumstances.
The above-mentioned sources said that starting from January 4, the US government made the above decision after six meetings with senior officials from the Department of Commerce, State, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy. He said that officials have formulated detailed guidelines on which technologies can support 5G and will use this as a benchmark for action. Subsequently, officials rejected most of the approximately 150 disputed applications and revoked eight permits to comply with the new guidelines.
The US action was made under pressure from Corey Stewart, Trump's recently appointed Commerce Department official. At the end of the Trump administration, Stewart worked in the Department of Commerce for two months. He hoped to promote a tough China policy.