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The move is the West’s latest step to crackdown on Huawei’s technology
The US government has revoked certain licenses that permit US chip makers to export goods to Chinese tech giant Huawei.
The crackdown will mean that major chip producers like Intel and Qualcomm’s sales to China will be significantly reduced.
“We are not commenting on any specific licenses, but we can confirm that we have revoked certain licenses for exports to Huawei,” said the US government on Tuesday.
It is likely that the clampdown is a result of Huawei’s release of the Matebook X Pro last month, a laptop powered by Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 processor. This seemingly caught the attention of the US government and was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”, according to Meghan Harris, senior vice president of Beacon Global Strategies, speaking to the Washington Post.
The US government has been seeking to reduce China’s access to critical US technologies for a number of years now, with these sanctions seen as playing a crucial role in maintaining the country’s tech supremacy.
“This action will bolster U.S. national security, protect American ingenuity, and diminish Communist China’s ability to advance its technology,” Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said in a statement.
The Chinese government has hit back at the restrictions, calling them a “typical economic coercion practice”, adding that it “will take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms.”
The US government is on a mission to bring chip production back to the US and place less reliance on other countries in the name of improving national security. In August 2022, the Biden administration launched the CHIPS and Science Act, which includes investing $52.7 billion into domestic US chip manufacturing.
Despite many chips being designed in the US, nearly 90% of them are made in Taiwan. This extreme outsourcing of production has exposed the fragility of the chip supply chain.
Earlier this month, The US government announced the signing of a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms to award Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) a subsidy of $6.6 billion to build a semiconductor production plant in Phoenix, Arizona.
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