WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The US government has revoked licences which
allowed Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to buy older chips
from the US semiconductor companies Qualcomm and Intel, financial
news agency Bloomberg reported.

The corresponding supply licences have been withdrawn, the chairman
of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives,
Michael McCaul, told Bloomberg.

The US Department of Commerce only confirmed that some export
licences for Huawei had been withdrawn, but did not specify which
companies were involved. However, according to McCaul, the committee
was informed about the withdrawal of the licences.

The US government accuses Huawei of being close to Chinese
authorities and therefore sees the network equipment and smartphone
provider as a security risk.

US sanctions have been denying Huawei access to modern US
technologies for several years. As a result, Huawei smartphones
hardly play a role outside of China anymore - despite the company
overtaking Samsung as top smartphone player in 2020.

With the special licences that have now been withdrawn, Qualcomm, for
example, was still able to supply modems for 4G data radio, but not
for the faster 5G networks.

Huawei is trying to replace the chips with domestically developed
Chinese units, and continues to have a strong presence in the
smartphone market in China.


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