In its latest offensive designed to curb China's dominance in the technology sector, and amid continuing geopolitical tensions, the United States has revoked certain licenses allowing the sale of chips to Shenzhen-based Huawei.
The news, confirmed by the US Department of Commerce (via CNBC), does not detail the specific licenses that have been revoked.
According to the agency, the decision aligns with the United States' ongoing assessment of how best to safeguard its national security interests amid a dynamic digital threat landscape.
The United States revokes certain licenses from China
This is not the first anti-Huawei campaign by the United States: in 2019, the United States added Huawei to an “entity list” over concerns that the Chinese company had ties to the country's military.
Despite recent strict trade regulations, Huawei has shown tremendous resilience, particularly in its consumer business. The recent launch of the Mate 60 Pro has been a major factor in the company's global success: the smartphone uses chips produced by the country's leading chipmaker, SMIC, which addresses and circumvents restrictions imposed by the United States and other governments. .
Although Huawei does not feature in the list of top five smartphone brands for global shipments, the company saw a colossal 70% year-on-year increase in shipments in mainland China, when in the first quarter of 2024 it accounted for 17% of shipments . the entire market.
OPPO, HONOR, vivo and Apple accounted for 15-16% each, highlighting the level of digital diversity in China.
More broadly, the US government's actions come amid escalating tensions between the two nations: President Biden recently signed legislation that could ban TikTok in the US unless it separates from its Chinese parent company.
In recent years, the intertwined nature of economic and geopolitical interests has become increasingly evident, but the slow development of such restrictions has given both sides time to adapt accordingly, making many of the bans, in the At best, ineffective.
