TMTPost -- Amercian lawmakers are attempting further curbs on the semiconductor suppliers of Huawei Technologies Co.
Credit：Xinhua News Agency
Huawei suppliers are targeted by the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act unveiled Saturday, since the U.S. defense bill contains language that would effectively prohibit Defense Department contractors from selling semiconductors, chip-making equipment or tools for designing semiconductors to Huawei or its affiliates, Bloomberg reported.
If the bill is approved and signed into law, it could squeeze global chip firms with ties to Huawei, and risk companies that maintains business with Huawei losing access to work for the Pentagon. The Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog, estimated the department committed almost $460 billion on contracts in fiscal year 2023. However, the bill still faces a hurdle in the House as the Democrat stands against a provision banning treatment for military dependent children for gender dysphoria.
The defense bill is the latest sign that U.S. lawmakers are seeking to rein China’s tech ambitions, such as the high-tech development efforts led by Huawei.
In a letter sent to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in October, bipartisan Representatives urged the Commerce Department to continue taking action to address the national security threat of Huawei as the Chinese tech giant is making efforts to circumvent restrictions imposed by the agency, which oversees a pivotal trade restriction list as well as broader export controls on advanced chips and manufacturing tools.
Huawei’s rapid buildout of semiconductor fabrication facilities still relies on a large amount of U.S.-produced manufacturing equipment (SME), which provides the United States with an opportunity to deny Huawei its chip ambitions, the lawmakers wrote. They revealed that, Huawei concealed its involvement with these facilities while utilizing chip firms like Pengxinxu, SwaySure Technology, Qingdao SiEn, and potentially many others, none of which are currently listed on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List.
Previously, Commerce added Huawei's clandestine semiconductor firm, PXW Semiconductor, to the Entity List. Now, the lawmakers say, it is time to consider adding PXW's sister companies to the Entity List as well.
Eariler this month,the U.S Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) unveiled a package of rules designed to further impair China’s capability to produce advanced-node semiconductors that can be used in the next generation of advanced weapon systems and in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing.
The rules include new controls on 24 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and 3 types of software tools for developing or producing semiconductors; new controls on high-bandwidth memory (HBM); new red flag guidance to address compliance and diversion concerns; 140 Entity List additions and 14 modifications spanning Chinese tool manufacturers, semiconductor fabs, and investment companies involved in advancing the Chinese government’s military modernization; and several critical regulatory changes to enhance the effectiveness of the previous controls, according to a press of the BIS.
Under the new rules, nearly two dozen semiconductor companies, two investment companies and over 100 chipmaking tool makers under new restrictions from the entity list, which bars U.S. suppliers from shipping to them without first receiving a special license. Three partners of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.--Swaysure Technology Co, Si'En Qingdao, and Shenzhen Pensun Technology Co. now face the new restrictions.
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