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SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Intel Corp has received licenses from US authorities to continue supplying certain products to Huawei Technologies, an Intel spokesman said on Tuesday.
With ties between the United States and China at their worst in decades, Washington has been pressuring governments around the world to expel Huawei, arguing that the telecommunications giant would hand over data to the Chinese government for espionage.
Since September 15, new restrictions have prevented US companies from supplying or servicing Huawei.
This week, the state-backed China Securities Journal said Intel had received permission to supply Huawei.
Last week, the China International Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation confirmed that it had also requested permission to continue providing services to Huawei. SMIC uses US-sourced equipment to make chips for Huawei and other companies.
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix also applied for a US license for Huawei’s sales but did not get approval, a person familiar with the matter said.
The person, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said non-U.S. Companies may not have a high probability of obtaining American approval, and chipmakers are drawing up contingency plans to increase the supply to other customers.
SK Hynix declined to comment.
In August, Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek Inc revealed that it had applied to the US government for permission to continue supplying the Huawei from China.
Huawei, founded in 1987 by a former engineer in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, denies that it spies on Beijing and says the United States is trying to smear it because Western companies are falling behind in 5G technology.
In what some observers have compared to the Cold War arms race, the United States is concerned that 5G dominance will give China an advantage that Washington is not ready to accept.
Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Additional information from Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Jason Neely
