The U.S. government is considering new restrictions on the sale of chips and other critical components to Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co., according to online sources, which could lead to another bitter standoff with U.S. technology companies opposed to expanded sanctions.
The report said that major US industry companies, including chipmakers and software developers, sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross arguing against the new restrictions. US manufacturers are actually calling on President Donald Trump's administration to at least listen to their arguments before introducing tougher restrictions that would close the so-called loopholes that currently allow US companies to continue doing business with Huawei.
Currently, some US companies continue to supply Huawei with components produced outside the US. Current restrictions allow supply if the manufacturer can demonstrate that 75% of the components' work takes place outside the United States. The American government is considering increasing this threshold to 90%, and also plans to expand the list of products subject to restrictions. This was reported by a source familiar with the situation, who added that new restrictions could come into force as early as January 2020.
βWe respectfully ask the administration to refrain from making new changes to the law and to carefully evaluate the potential harm they could cause. In the long term, U.S. companies will be forced to reduce investments in research necessary to maintain U.S. technological leadership, which will ultimately lead to the degradation of innovation that contributes to our economic leadership and national security,β the president of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) wrote in a letter to the Secretary of Commerce. John Neuffer.
Tech companies say a tighter ban on cooperation with Huawei would only hurt the US, since many of the components supplied to the Chinese tech giant could be sourced elsewhere. Because of this, American companies may lose contracts for the supply of components, placing them in the hands of foreign competitors.
Source: 3dnews.ru