The relationship between the presidential administration of Donald Trump and China’s tech companies can be classified as worthy of a soap opera, even in its final episode.
Before leaving the White House, the US president, as the last action in his plan to block Huawei and other Chinese companies in the same field, revoked a series of licenses that allow North American companies to commercialize components for the manufacture of their devices.
The tech drama between the White House and China continues to burn
Based on the protection of the security of the national interests of the United States, Donald Trump declared a trade war against China, blocking the possibility of establishing ties with its technology companies from the North American country, being the episode with Huawei the most iconic .
The fact that by presidential mandate, a series of companies in the US technology sector were restricted with the establishment of commercial relations with Chinese firms, had serious consequences in particular for Huawei, such as the noisy episode in which the distribution of the system was restricted. Android operating for these devices.
Although in this situation, Huawei reinvented itself with the announcement of Harmony OS, its own multiplatform operating system, this new episode further complicates things for the Chinese company.
These new restrictions will mean that companies like Intel, supplier of components for Huawei devices, can no longer establish commercial relationships with companies in that country.
The aforementioned commercial limitations come to toughen the hand, even though on a previous occasion, in the midst of the whole outbreak of the US case against Huawei, the US government granted a special license to semiconductor companies such as Qualcomm and Intel itself. , to continue working with Huawei.
It is not just a couple of companies
This information was released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), through a report by the news agency Reuters. Among the evidence and background collected in that report, it is noted that the United States Department of Commerce keeps 150 licenses of this type under review, pending approval, but with a high probability of being rejected.
The case of Intel is the most striking, but not an isolated event. So far, according to the Reuters report, the revocations for these same reasons amount to eight, considering in addition to Intel, the North American subsidiary of Kioxia Corp, formerly known as Toshiba’s flash memory division.
So far, both Intel and Huawei have avoided issuing public statements or press releases.
Companies restricted by this new policy, by protocol, have 20 days to respond to this notification. The US Department of Commerce has 45 days to report new changes, if applied, and after that, companies will have another 45 days to file their appeals.
As is well known, a change of command is looming in the United States. The future administration of Joe Biden has not yet revealed its position on the situation in his country with China. All this today plunges into greater uncertainty about the future of this lawsuit, since the future of all the Chinese and American companies involved could depend on the actions taken by this new government administration.
Header image: Montage with photographs by Geralt and Sebastien Corberon, under CC license.
