US President Donald Trump on Wednesday extended for another year an executive order signed in May last year declaring a national emergency and barring US companies from using telecommunications equipment made by firms posing a national security risk.
The order invoked the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president the authority to regulate commerce in response to a national emergency.
US lawmakers said that Trump’s order last year was aimed squarely at Chinese companies such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and ZTE Corp (中興).
Photo: AP
The US Department of Commerce is expected to extend again a license, set to expire today, allowing US companies to keep doing business with Huawei, a person briefed on the matter said.
The department has issued a series of extensions of the temporary license and previously extended it until April 1.
Huawei, the second-largest maker of smartphones, is also a major telecoms equipment company that provides 5G network technology.
In March, the department sought public comments on whether it should issue future extensions and asked what was the “impact on your company or organization if the temporary general license is not extended?”
It also asked about the costs associated with ending the licenses.
Wireless trade association CTIA urged the department to approve a “long-term” license extension, writing that “now is not the time to hamper global operators’ ability to maintain the health of the networks.”
The association said that “ongoing, limited engagement with Huawei to protect the security of equipment and devices in the market benefits American consumers by reducing the risk that they will be subject to device compromise.”
It also asked the department to “reinstate and modify its prior authorization for standards development work to allow for exchanges with Huawei in furtherance of global telecommunications standards.”
The commerce department and Huawei declined to comment.
Since adding Huawei to an economic blacklist in May last year, citing national security concerns, the department has allowed it to purchase some US-made goods in a move aimed at minimizing disruption for its customers, many of which operate wireless networks in rural areas of the US.
In November last year, the US Federal Communications Commission designated Huawei and ZTE as national security risks, effectively barring their rural customers in the US from tapping an US$8.5 billion government fund to purchase equipment.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The