Suppliers of Huawei and SMIC have been granted billions of dollars worth of licenses from November through April to sell these firms goods and technology despite both brands being in the trade blacklist in the US.
According to Reuters, documents released by Congress showed earlier this week that 113 export licenses worth 61 billion US Dollars were approved for suppliers to ship products to the Chinese telecom giant along with another 188 licenses that are worth nearly 42 billion US Dollars were approved for China’s major chipmaker SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp). The data also revealed that more than 9 out of 10 license applications were granted to SMIC suppliers, while around 69 percent of requests were granted to ship to Huawei.
The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee voted to grant a request to release the licensing data that was received from the Commerce Department back in May. These numbers have led to an outcry in Washington that are against these Chinese firms receiving access to advanced US made technologies. Republican Senator Marco Rubio told Reuters that President Joe Biden needs to explain the reason behind these companies continuing to receive “waivers.”
The government official added that “It is just another example of President Biden not taking the economic and security threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party seriously.” Meanwhile top Republican member Michael McCaul said that “It’s clearly in our national interest to increase transparency and public scrutiny on how our nation transfers its technology to an adversary.”
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