US targets China’s Huawei with more restrictions – Reuters

The US government has stopped approving licenses for American companies to export most items to Chinese tech giant Huawei, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to one of the sources, US officials are creating a new formal policy for the denial of items to be shipped to Huawei that would include those below the 5G level. Among those reportedly are 4G items, Wi-Fi 6 and 7, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing and cloud items.

Another person told the outlet that the move is expected to reflect the Biden administration’s tightening of policy on Huawei over the past year. Licenses for 4G chips that cannot be used for 5G, which may have been approved earlier, will be denied, the source explained. Previously, licenses for items specific to 4G applications were granted.

A Commerce Department spokesperson said officials “continually assess our policies and regulations,” without providing details on talks with specific companies.

The report indicated that Huawei has faced American export restrictions regarding items for 5G and other technologies for several years. Nevertheless, the US Department of Commerce has granted licenses for some American companies to sell certain goods and technologies to the company.

Huawei was placed on a US trade blacklist in 2019, with most American suppliers barred from shipping goods and technology to the company unless they were granted licenses. The measure is aimed at cutting off the Chinese company’s ability to buy or design the semiconductor chips that power most of its products.

Tensions between the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, have been on the rise as they compete for domination in key technologies, including semiconductors. In October, the Biden administration unveiled sweeping restrictions on China’s ability to buy semiconductors and chip-making equipment, placing the country’s companies on a list for further scrutiny.

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