On April 26, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken clarified that the US’s strict controls on exports of advanced computer chips to China are not intended to harm China’s economy or technological development. The US is implementing these controls from 2022, affecting sales from companies such as Nvidia, AMD and Intel.
Despite these controls, the US has granted at least two licenses to Intel and Qualcomm to continue supplying chips to Huawei Technologies. However, some Republican congressmen have raised concerns about the use of Intel chips in new laptop models by Huawei. Blinken emphasized that these exemptions were made based on national security concerns and were not intended to hinder China’s technological development.
The licenses granted to Intel and Qualcomm to sell to Huawei were approved during the Trump administration and remain in place under President Biden. It’s worth noting that competitors like AMD and MediaTek didn’t get similar exemptions, which begs the question of why these decisions were made by both administrations. During his visit to Beijing, Blinken sought to reassure China that the US’s focus was on security concerns, not on restricting trade with China.