By Juan Pedro Tomás
Intel has secured licenses from U.S. authorities to continue supplying certain products to Chinese vendor Huawei, Reuters reported, citing an Intel spokesman.
According to the report, the licenses are now required to make a transaction with Huawei or a listed affiliate involving any equipment using US technology, after new sanctions against the Chinese company came into force on September 15.
International press also reported that other chipmakers including Qualcomm, Micron Technology, Samsung, SK Hynix, Macronix International, MediaTek and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp also applied for the special licenses.
Last week, China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation confirmed it had also sought permission to continue servicing Huawei. The chipmaker uses US-origin technology to make chips for Huawei and other companies.
Also, South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix had applied for a permit to continue to provide chips to Huawei, but it has not gained approval, Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the matter said.
The source added that non-US companies may not have a high chance of getting US approval, forcing chipmakers to make contingency plans to increase supplies to other customers.
Huawei was added to the Entity List in May 2019, after the Department of Commerce concluded that the vendor was engaged in activities that were contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests, something that has always been denied by the Chinese vendor. In May of this year, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the US Department of Commerce announced plans to restrict Huawei’s ability to use US chipmaking equipment and software to design and manufacture its semiconductors abroad.
The BIS had said that the move “cuts off Huawei’s efforts to undermine US export controls,” and that the government agency was amending its longstanding foreign-produced direct product rule and the Entity List to “narrowly and strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain US software and technology.”
However, the US government believes that Huawei has continued to use US software and technology to design semiconductors and says that the company is therefore “undermining the national security and foreign policy purposes of the Entity List by commissioning their production in overseas foundries using US equipment.”
Under the new regulation, companies using US chipmaking technology — including foreign chipmakers, will be required to obtain a license before supplying components to Huawei, BIS said.
