The Trump administration has notified Intel Corp. and other technology companies that revoke licenses to do business with Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co. and rejects new license applications, Reuters reported on Sunday.
The latest move against Chinese technology companies comes just days before Trump left the White House on Wednesday. The US claims that telecommunications equipment maker Huawei poses a threat to national security.
The Trump administration has restricted U.S. companies from doing business with Huawei in 2019, but a handful – including Intel INTC,
– it has since been granted special approval.
Citing unnamed sources, Reuters reported that eight licenses had been revoked from four companies and quoted an email from the Semiconductor Industry Association on Friday describing the Commerce Department’s intention to “deny a significant number of license applications for exports to Huawei ”. Reuters said the vast majority of about 150 pending license applications, worth about $ 120 billion in goods and services, were rejected.
The Trump administration has taken punitive action against several Chinese companies in recent months, including a failed attempt to ban TikTok and an executive order that forced the New York Stock Exchange to deregister China’s three largest telecommunications companies.
It is unclear whether the new Biden administration will continue the restrictions on Chinese companies, with some experts predicting that orders could be suspended while the new administration examines the cases.