Intel, Qualcomm shows sale concerns as US cuts off chip supply for Huawei: Report

Huawei-US chip war catches fire as the Biden administration blocked the chip shipment license from Intel and Qualcomm, raising sale concerns for chipmakers. Both firms now confirmed the new decision, stressing over their business growth.

Intel initially confirmed that the U.S. authorities had canceled its chip shipment license for a Chinese customer (allegedly Huawei) and cited that this decision would likely hit its sales revenue. The firm pointed out security reasons for this decision.

Even though Intel didn’t mention the name of the Chinese customer in its official filing, it noted that the second quarter revenue could stay in its original range ($12.5 – $13.5 billion) yet below the midpoint. There could be an impact on the business growth.

“On May 7, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce informed Intel Corporation (the ‘Company’) that it was revoking certain licenses for exports of consumer-related items to a customer in China, effective immediately.” – Intel’s filing.

Intel Chips (Image Credits: Intel)

Qualcomm Confirms…

Qualcomm on the other hand said that after one of its licenses got canceled by the US for Huawei, its shares went flat. Intel too, faced a drop of 2.9% this week.

As mentioned in the previous report, the U.S. government took this step to the Intel and Qualcomm chip sale process for Huawei after the Pura brand developer launched the MateBook X Pro 2024 equipped with the latest Intel Core Ultra 9 chipset.

“It suggests that the Commerce Department had given the green light to Intel to sell the chip to Huawei” – said one of the Republican lawmakers last week.

The Chinese foreign ministry opposed this decision and said that the US is now over-stretching the unnecessary sanctions on China concerning national security. Meanwhile, the US Commerce Secretary – Gina Raimondo cited the following:

“Huawei is a threat! Maybe we have an increased focus on AI. And so when we learn more about AI capabilities, that’s when we have to take action. So if a chip that we previously licensed for example, now we discover had AI capabilities, we’re going to revoke the license.”

(Source – Reuters)