The US revokes some export licenses to sell chips to China’s Huawei

The U.S. has revoked certain chip export licenses from Chinese tech giant Huawei, the Commerce Department told CNBC on Tuesday, in its latest effort to curb China’s technological might.

“We continually evaluate how our controls can best protect our national security and foreign policy interests, taking into account the ever-changing threat environment and technology landscape,” a Commerce spokesperson said in a statement.

“As part of this process, as we have done in the past, we sometimes revoke export licenses,” the spokesman said, declining to comment on specific licenses. “But we can confirm that we have canceled certain export licenses to Huawei.”

In 2019, Huawei was placed on a US trade blacklist that banned US firms from selling technology – including 5G chips – to the Chinese tech giant over national security concerns. In 2020, the US tightened chip restrictions on Huawei, requiring foreign manufacturers using US chip-making equipment to obtain a license before they can sell semiconductors to Huawei.

Huawei’s consumer business, which includes smartphones and laptops, is seeing a resurgence after the launch of the Mate 60 Pro smartphone in August.

A TechInsights analysis of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro smartphone revealed an advanced chip made by China’s largest chipmaker, SMIC. The smartphone is also said to be equipped with 5G connectivity, a feature that US sanctions sought to block.

American chip companies Qualcomm and Intel are two of the companies that supply chips to Huawei. Qualcomm in an SEC Filing said earlier this month that it expected operations to be “further impacted” by its customers, such as Huawei, developing their own chips.

“Although we continue to sell Huawei integrated circuit products under our licenses, we do not expect to receive product revenue from Huawei beyond the current calendar year,” Qualcomm said.

“Furthermore, to the extent that Huawei’s 5G devices take share from Chinese OEMs that use our 5G products or from non-Chinese OEMs that use our 5G products in devices that they sell in China, our revenue, results of operations and cash flows could be further impacted,” Qualcomm said.

Last month, Huawei launched a new range of phones – the Pura 70 series – in an attempt to challenge An apple in China.

Apple is facing pressure from Huawei in China as iPhone sales plunged 19.1% in the first quarter, while Huawei smartphone sales jumped 69.7%, according to Counterpoint Research.

Huawei’s 2023 net profit rose 144.5 percent from a year earlier to 87 billion yuan (about $12 billion), helped in part by sales of the Mate 60 Pro in China, the firm revealed in March.