Intel has survived an effort to halt hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of chip sales to Huawei Technologies, two people familiar with the matter said, giving one of the world’s largest chip makers more time to sell to the heavily sanctioned Chinese telecoms company, reports the South China Morning Post. US President Joe Biden has long been under pressure to revoke a licence, issued by the Trump administration, that allows Intel to ship advanced central processors to Huawei for use in laptops.
The push came from Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which argued it was unfair that it did not receive a licence to sell similar chips to Huawei and from China hawks, who are seeking to stop all sales to the Chinese firm.
Intel’s ability to hang on to a licence to sell chips while a rival could not obtain similar permission demonstrates the uneven and uncertain terrain companies face as the US seeks to limit Beijing’s access to sophisticated American technology, especially to a heavily sanctioned company like Huawei.