Intel gets U.S. licenses to supply some products to Huawei

Shanghai

Intel Corp has received licenses from U.S. authorities to continue supplying certain products to Huawei Technologies, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

With U.S.-China ties at their worst in decades, Washington has been pushing governments around to world to squeeze out Huawei, arguing that the telecoms giant would hand data to the Chinese government for espionage, according to Reuters.

From September 15, new curbs have barred U.S. companies from supplying or servicing Huawei.

This week the state-backed China Securities Journal said Intel had received permission to supply Huawei.

Last week China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation confirmed it had also sought permission to continue servicing Huawei. SMIC uses U.S.-origin equipment to make chips for Huawei and other companies.

Huawei, founded in 1987 by a former engineer in China’s People’s Liberation Army, denies it spies for Beijing and says the United States is trying to smear it because Western firms are falling behind in 5G technology.

In what some observers have compared to the Cold War arms race, the United States worries that 5G dominance would give China an advantage Washington is not ready to accept.