US weighs sanctions against Huawei’s chip network

The United States is thinking of blacklisting a number of Chinese chipmakers that helped Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies bypass its sanctions.

The targeted companies include Qingdao Si’En, SwaySure and Shenzhen Pensun Technology Co (PST), Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

These entities, most of which are either acquired or being built by Huawei, were accused of exploiting current loopholes in the US chip export restrictions.

Citing an analyst, the Bloomberg report said it’s highly likely that more Chinese companies will be added to the US entity list. As of now, the US has not yet made any final decisions.

The report said the Biden administration is also considering imposing sanctions on ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc, Shenzhen Penguin High-Tech Co and SiCarrier Technologies.

While the US is seeking to strengthen its curbs against Huawei, many observers were puzzled by Washington’s decision to allow Intel to ship a large quantity of chips to Huawei.

Citing two people familiar with the situation, Reuters reported on March 12 that Intel has survived an effort to halt hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of chip sales to Huawei, which used them to make laptops and gain global market share.

The report said AMD found it unfair that it did not receive a license similar to what rival Intel was granted.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio said the Biden administration should revoke Intel’s license to sell to Huawei immediately, or the US Commerce Department should not consider granting any subsidies to Intel for its US expansion.

He said no American company, especially those receiving taxpayer funding, should be fueling innovation by Huawei.

Huawei, Intel, the White House and the