US revokes Intel & Qualcomm's licenses for exporting chips to Huawei

The Biden administration recently revoked some licenses of popular companies like Intel and Qualcomm restricting them from shipping chips to Huawei Technologies. The US Commerce Department confirmed that it has revoked a few licenses but didn’t name the companies.

However, the statement from Qualcomm and Intel confirms that they are the ones whose licenses got revoked.

The US government revoked the licenses of Intel and Qualcomm

Last week, Qualcomm and Intel were notified about their licenses being revoked with immediate effect. Notably, the news comes after Huawei unveiled its first AI-powered laptop, the MateBook X Pro powered by Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 processor.

Following the announcement, the Republican lawmakers criticized the launch of the Intel-powered laptop. They felt that the department had given the green signal to Intel to ship the chip to Huawei.

Let’s not forget that Reuters first reported the news about the revoked license of Intel and Qualcomm. The news agency says the decision came after consent pressure from Republican lawmakers who urged the Biden Administration to take strict action against Huawei.

A Republic Congresswoman Elise Stefanik issued a statement in which she said:

This action will bolster U.S. national security, protect American ingenuity, and diminish Communist China’s ability to advance its technology.

Well, the license cancellation of Intel could hurt Huawei as it is dependent on Intel chips for its laptops. That’s not all, this decision might have also hurt other US companies working closely with Huawei.

Reuters has also quoted a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry which reads:

China resolutely opposes the United States overstretching the concept of national security and abusing export controls to suppress Chinese companies without justification.

Both companies say that the recent decisions made by the US Commerce Department are a hurdle to their business growth. Qualcomm confirmed that its shares took a massive dip after the US government revoked one of its licenses for Huawei. Intel, on the other hand, saw a drop of 2.9% last week.