US-China trade war: Washington prohibits the sale of Huawei technology to American companies
It sharpens the trade war between the US and China: The US Department of Commerce has notified some companies of the suspension of licenses for technology exportsamong which is the big tech Huawei.
As reported by the Financial Times, Washington would have suspended the issue of licenses for “made in the USA” technology exports to Huawei. It is an escalation in the confrontation between the two powers. Already in 2019 the administration of former President Donald Trump had entered Huawei in a blacklist which bound the technological imports from the USA to specific licenses granted by the federal government. Last October, the administration of Democratic President Biden intensified the confrontation with China on a technological level, imposing export restrictions on semiconductors and lithographic machinery to several Chinese groups, a move dictated by fears for national security.
The Financial Times explains again that, according to US security officials, the Shenzen tech company would help the Beijing government in espionage. Hypothesis obviously denied by Huawei. Despite Huawei’s entry into Trump’s blacklist, the US Commerce Department still continued to grant export licenses to some companies, including Qualcomm and Intel, to supply Huawei with technology unrelated to high-speed 5G telecommunications networks. speed. The one of Biden now it seems to be a definitive move: the president ha indeed in charge Alan Estevezchief of the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, of review trade policies towards Chinato hinder the use of US technology, for example in the development of weapons.
Martin Rassera tech expert at think tank CNAS, said Biden’s latest action was a “really significant move.”
“The commerce department’s actions are in part driven by the fact that Huawei as a company is very different than it was four years ago when it was focused on 5G,” said Rasser, who is also a former CIA official, referring to its expansion. in areas such as undersea cables and cloud computing. Eric Xupresident of the company, said in December that il 2023 would have been the first year in which Huawei would return to “business as usual”. According to the company, its 2022 revenues were flat at $94 billion, after a precipitous drop in 2021. The company has secured its survival as it transitions into corporate and government businesses, particularly in China, and its growing activity in the cloud. The fact that the US still allowed some exports to Huawei also helped avoid a complete collapse. Finally, it is believed that Huawei is supporting projects in China for build an import-independent microchip supply chain.
No official decision has yet been made on whether to implement a comprehensive export ban on US-technology chips to China. The Commerce Department declined to comment but said it, along with other government departments, “will continuously evaluate policies and regulations and communicate regularly with external stakeholders.” Huawei did not respond to a request for comment.
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