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April 19 Reuters) - Seagate Technology Holdings (STX.O) has agreed to pay a $300 million penalty in a settlement with U.S. authorities for shipping over $1.1 billion worth of hard disk drives to China's Huawei in violation of U.S. export control laws, the U.S. Department of Commerce said on Wednesday. Seagate sold the drives to Huawei between August 2020 and September 2021 despite an August 2020 rule that restricted sales of certain foreign items made with U.S. technology to the company. Seagate shipped 7.4 million drives to Huawei for about a year after the 2020 rule took effect and became Huawei's sole supplier of hard drives, the Commerce Department said. The other two primary suppliers of hard drives ceased shipments to Huawei after the new rule took effect in 2020, the department said. Even after "its competitors had stopped selling to them ... Seagate continued sending hard disk drives to Huawei," Matthew Axelrod, the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for export enforcement said in a statement.

☆ NXP CEO applauds EU Chips Act, seeks clarity on China restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Conor Humphries | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ENNISKERRY, Ireland, April 19 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Dutch-headquartered computer chip maker NXP Semiconductors (NXPI.O) on Wednesday applauded the passage of the EU Chips Act this week, but said the industry could use more clarity on export restrictions to China. Kurt Sievers said his company, which makes chips for the automotive industry as well for 5G telephone base stations, had been hit by successive rounds of U.S. export restrictions on China's Huawei. Around 38% of NXP's sales are to Chinese manufacturers, about half of which are processed and then re-exported to Western buyers. "A lot of that going forward could eventually move out of China, which doesn't harm us," he said. "I think it would be fantastic if there was a lot of synchronization between the U.S. Chips Act and the European Chips Act in terms of what to support such that it will be complementary," he said.

☆ Australia bans TikTok on government devices over security concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] The logo of Chinese-owned video app TikTok is seen on a smartphone in front of an image of the Australian national flag in this illustration picture taken April 4, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/IllustrationSYDNEY, April 4 (Reuters) - Australia banned TikTok on Tuesday from all federal government-owned devices over security concerns, becoming the latest U.S.-allied country to take action against the Chinese-owned video app. TikTok's Australia and New Zealand General Manager Lee Hunter said TikTok should not be singled out. "Things are going well, but of course, it'll take some time to turn this ship around," Trade Minister Don Farrell told Sky News, referring to prospects for improving trade relations. TikTok has said the administration of President Joe Biden demanded its Chinese owners divest their stakes or face a potential U.S. ban.

☆ China's Huawei partners with more automakers to produce Aito EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, April 1 (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) is partnering with more legacy automakers to produce Aito-branded electric cars, the company's senior executive said on Saturday, in a move to expand its presence in the auto industry. Huawei will team up with Chery Automobile (CHERY.UL), BAIC Motor (1958.HK) and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (600418.SS) in jointly developing and manufacturing Aito-branded vehicles, Richard Yu, Huawei's Smart Car CEO, said at the China EV 100 forum in Beijing. Huawei, which has already a partnership with Seres Group (601127.SS) to make Aito cars, plans a series of models including SUVs, sedans and multipurpose vehicles under the Aito brand, Yu added. Huawei has been hit by a series of export controls by Washington which says it is a security risk, which the company denies. The sanctions have also affected Huawei's partnerships with global automakers, who have given up using Huawei's vehicle connectivity technologies in the past two years, Yu said on Saturday.

☆ China's Huawei says 'out of crisis' mode as revenue edges up
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( David Kirton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But it posted net profit of 35.6 billion yuan ($5.18 billion), down some two-thirds from 2021 when profit was helped by the sale of its Honor mid-range smartphone business. INDUSTRY SUPPORTR&D spending over the year rose 13.2% to 161.5 billion yuan ($23.50 billion), equivalent to a quarter of company revenue. Such spending helped Huawei with replacing components in its products that were hit by U.S. trade sanctions, Meng said. Revenue for 2022 came in at 642.3 billion yuan. Huawei's asset-to-liability ratio was 58.9% and it had a net cash balance of 176.3 billion yuan.

☆ Huawei posts slump in annual profit but ekes out revenue growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( David Kirton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SHENZHEN, China, March 31 (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (HWT.UL) said net profit slumped last year, as the tech conglomerate boosted research and development spending and grappled with increases in materials costs. It posted net profit of 35.6 billion yuan ($5.2 billion), down roughly two-thirds from 2021 when profit was helped by the sale of its Honor mid-range smartphone business. Revenue for 2022 came in at 642.3 billion yuan. R&D spending rose 13.2% to 161.5 billion yuan, equivalent to a quarter of the company's revenue, said Meng. Huawei's asset-to-liability ratio was 58.9% and it had a net cash balance of 176.3 billion yuan.

☆ FCC proposes rules to reassess foreign-owned US telecom services authority
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - The head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday proposed new rules to periodically reassess existing authorizations for foreign-owned companies to provide telecommunications services in the United States. The U.S. telecommunications regulator has raised mounting concerns about Chinese telecom companies in recent years which had won permission to operate in the United States decades ago. In 2019, the FCC voted to deny state-owned Chinese telecom firm China Mobile Ltd (0941.HK) the right to provide U.S. services and later withdrew U.S. authorizations for several other Chinese telecom carriers including China Telecom Corp (0728.HK). Rosenworcel said: "It is so important to have the agency regularly review foreign companies’ authorizations to providetelecommunications services in the United States." In December, a federal appeals court rejected China Telecom's challenge to the FCC order withdrawing the company's authority to provide services in the United States.

☆ China's Huawei makes breakthrough in design tools for 14nm chips and above - media
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File PhotoSHENZHEN, China, March 24 - Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (HWT.UL) has made breakthroughs in electronic design automation (EDA) tools for chips produced at and above 14-nanometre technology, Caijing financial news magazine reported on Friday, citing a speech by a senior Huawei executive. Huawei will complete testing on the tools this year, rotating chairman Xu Zhijun said in a speech on Feb 28., Caijing reported. Huawei has developed 78 tools related to chip hardware and software, the report added. Chip design companies use EDA software to produce the blueprints for chips before they are mass manufactured at fabs. China is home to a handful of domestic EDA software makers, but experts do not consider them globally competitive.

☆ Exclusive: Semiconductor manufacturer Infinera explores sale -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Milana Vinn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 14 (Reuters) - Infinera Corp (INFN.O), a U.S. manufacturer of semiconductors for the telecommunications industry that competes with China's Huawei, is exploring options that include a sale of the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. The San Jose, California-based company, which has a market value of $1.6 billion, is working with investment bank Centerview Partners on a sale process that will launch in a few weeks, the source said. There is no certainty that Infinera will reach any deal, added the source, who requested anonymity because the deliberations are confidential. Infinera and Centerview did not respond to requests for comment. Infinera makes optical semiconductors and networking equipment for fixed line and mobile telecommunications networks.

A DB spokesperson told Reuters that under current IT security legislation it did not have to run network components by Germany's cybersecurity office, the BSI, unlike public telecoms network operators. A BSI spokesperson said it was not aware of any law that determined the DB IT systems as "critical components". A Huawei spokesperson said the firm would never harm any nation or individual. The December contract with Deutsche Telekom Business Solutions, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is for Huawei tech like switches and routers. A government source said it had detected some operators had already built in Huawei critical components without waiting for a BSI green light and could be required to replace those.

☆ Reliance Jio to buy U.S.-based Mimosa Networks for $60 mln
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, March 9 (Reuters) - Jio Platforms, owned by Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS), will buy communications equipment maker Mimosa Networks for $60 million to bolster its expanding 5G and broadband services, the companies said on Thursday. The deal is between Radisys Corp, a unit of Jio Platforms, and US-based Airspan Networks Holdings (MIMO.A), which owns Mimosa. Reliance Jio Infocomm USA, a unit of Jio, is a shareholder in Airspan and has a seat on its board, according to the statement. The Mimosa deal also comes at a time when some governments, including India, have either banned or discouraged the use of China's Huawei in national networks. Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

"But after years of dithering, the German 5G network is deeply dependent on Chinese suppliers. Huawei, ZTE and China's government reject these claims, saying that they are motivated by a protectionist desire to support non-Chinese rivals. GERMANY LAGGINGWhile several countries across Europe are still formulating telecom policies, only Britain and Sweden have so far banned Huawei and ZTE from supplying critical 5G network equipment. The German government was last month unable to answer a parliamentary request about how many Huawei components operators were using in their 5G networks, filed in part in response to the report. The deadline to remove all Huawei gear from Britain's 5G networks by the end of 2027 remains unchanged.

"But after years of dithering, the German 5G network is deeply dependent on Chinese suppliers. Huawei, ZTE and China's government reject these claims, saying that they are motivated by a protectionist desire to support non-Chinese rivals. The government would ban operators from using certain controlling elements from Huawei and ZTE in 5G networks. The German government was last month unable to answer a recent parliamentary request about how many Huawei components operators were using in their 5G networks. The deadline to remove all Huawei gear from Britain's 5G networks by the end of 2027 remains unchanged.

☆ Exclusive: Nvidia's plans for sales to Huawei imperiled if U.S. tightens Huawei curbs-draft
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Alexandra Alper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. Nvidia's plans to sell to Huawei have not been previously reported. Reuters could not learn the details of the specific policy change whose impact was being assessed in the report. The report suggested Qualcomm would likely suffer a "moderate economic impact" from the change in policy, in contrast to Huawei. Indeed, the loss of access to Qualcomm's modem chips would have a bigger impact on Huawei, the report forecast, since Huawei "relies heavily on Qualcomm's modem chips to support its smart phone offering."

☆ US approved 192 licenses for exports to blacklisted Chinese firms early 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Karen Freifeld | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 3 (Reuters) - The Biden administration approved 192 licenses worth over $23 billion to ship U.S. goods and technology to Chinese companies on a U.S. trade blacklist in the first quarter of last year, according to a document released by a U.S. congressional committee on Friday. The 192 licenses granted were out of 242 license applications decided between January and March 2022, a chart showed, and 115 of those approved contained controlled technology. Nineteen, or 8 percent of the total number of applications, were denied, and 31 were returned without action. "This critical U.S. technology is going to the Chinese Communist Party's surveillance and military efforts," he said. BIS also noted that licenses for some well-known Chinese companies are reviewed under policies set by the Trump administration that do not carry presumptions of denial.

☆ Nvidia's plans for sales to Huawei imperiled if U.S. tightens curbs, draft report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesU.S. chipmaker Nvidia's plans to sell technology to China's Huawei would be thwarted if the U.S. government proceeds with a proposal to further restrict shipments to the blacklisted company, a draft report by a government contractor shows. Nvidia's plans to sell to Huawei have not been previously reported. Reuters could not learn the details of the specific policy change whose impact was being assessed in the report. The report suggested Qualcomm would likely suffer a "moderate economic impact" from the change in policy, in contrast to Huawei. Indeed, the loss of access to Qualcomm's modem chips would have a bigger impact on Huawei, the report forecast, since Huawei "relies heavily on Qualcomm's modem chips to support its smart phone offering."

☆ Alibaba and Ant venture to launch RISC-V chips for payments
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The development comes as Chinese companies continue to invest heavily in chips, in the wake of U.S. export restrictions targeting China's semiconductor sector. Alibaba is one of several Chinese tech companies to pour research and development resources into RISC-V, an alternate chip architecture. The open-source nature of RISC-V's design in theory makes it less susceptible to export restrictions. In 2019, Washington imposed export restrictions on China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (HWT.UL), which threw the company's access to ARM designs in limbo. In late 2022, the United States launched similar export restrictions on Chinese chip fabs and research labs.

☆ U.S. House panel to hold hearing on policy toward China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Karen Freifeld | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 21 (Reuters) - The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing next Tuesday with top officials on China policy to identify gaps in pursuing what it called a "more holistic approach" to countering aggression by the Chinese Communist Party. The hearing, announced by the panel's chair, Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican, is called, "Combating the Generational Challenge of CCP Aggression." Alan Estevez, the U.S. Commerce Department's under secretary for industry and security, who oversees restrictions on tech exports to China, is among the witnesses. McCaul has been pressing Estevez on the need to ensure China is not transferring U.S.-origin technology to state sponsors of terrorism, and has called for tighter restrictions on exports to blacklisted companies like China's Huawei, which are viewed as a threat to U.S. national security. Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Saudi Arabia says tech giants to invest more than $9 billion in kingdom
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

RIYADH, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has attracted more than $9 billion in investments in future technologies, including by U.S. giants Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Oracle Corp (ORCL.N), which are building cloud regions in the kingdom, a government minister said on Monday. Saudi Minister of Communication and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha said Microsoft will invest $2.1 billion in a global super-scaler cloud, while Oracle has committed $1.5 billion to build a new cloud region in Riyadh. Saudi officials have pressed international companies to invest in the kingdom and move their regional headquarters to Riyadh in order to benefit from government contracts. The minister said China's Huawei (HWT.UL) will also invest $400 million in cloud infrastructure for its services in Saudi Arabia and another cloud region in partnership with oil giant Aramco (2222.SE). An additional $4.5 billion was invested in global and local assets across multiple sectors at the forum, Alswaha added.

☆ U.S., India partnership targets arms and AI to compete with China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Trevor Hunnicutt | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The White House is launching a partnership with India on Tuesday that President Joe Biden hopes will help the countries compete against China on military equipment, semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI). Yet the White House faces an uphill battle on each front, including U.S. restrictions on military technology transfer and visas for immigrant workers, along with India's longstanding dependence on Moscow for military hardware, issues it hopes to now address. But Washington has held its tongue, nudging the country on Russia while condoning India's more hawkish stance on China. General Electric Co (GE.N), meanwhile, is asking the U.S. government for permission to produce jet engines with India that would power aircraft operated and produced by India, according to the White House, which says a review is underway. Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Chris Sanders, Josie Kao and Himani SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. stops granting export licenses for China's Huawei, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for U.S. companies to export most items to China's Huawei, according to three people familiar with the matter. Qualcomm in 2020 received permission to sell 4G smartphone chips to Huawei. Another person said the move was expected to reflect the Biden administration's tightening of policy on Huawei over the past year. Licenses for 4G chips that could not be used for 5G, which might have been approved earlier, were being denied, the person said. Toward the end of the Trump administration and early in the Biden administration, officials had still granted licenses for items specific to 4G applications.

☆ Morning Bid: 'Soft landing' or 'no landing'?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

As U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee kicks off its two-day policymaking meeting, the economic news from around the world brightened considerably. China's economic activity swung back to growth in January after three months of contraction, according to official business surveys released on Tuesday. The euro zone economy confounded forecasts for a quarterly contraction of gross domestic product in the final three months of 2022. Eurostat estimated GDP in the bloc rose 0.1% in Q4 despite consensus expectations for a fall of 0.1%. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoJan 30 (Reuters) - The Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for U.S. companies to export most items to China's Huawei, according to three people familiar with the matter. Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) in 2020 received permission to sell 4G smartphone chips to Huawei. Licenses for 4G chips that could not be used for 5g, which might have been approved earlier, were being denied, the person said. American officials placed Huawei on a trade blacklist in 2019 restricting most U.S. suppliers from shipping goods and technology to the company unless they were granted licenses. But U.S. officials granted licenses that allowed Huawei to receive some products.

☆ U.S. stops provision of licences for export to China's Huawei - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - The Biden administration has stopped providing U.S. companies with licences to export to Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. commerce department had notified some companies that it would no longer grant the licences, the report said. This potentially implies a move towards total ban on the sale of American technology to Huawei. The commerce department, Huawei and chip equipment maker Applied Materials (AMAT.O) did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. In 2019, the Trump administration imposed a trade ban on Huawei, citing national security concerns, which barred the company from using Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Android for its new smartphones, among other critical U.S.-origin technologies.

☆ China's Huawei sees 'business as usual' as U.S. sanctions impact wanes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"U.S. restrictions are now our new normal, and we're back to business as usual," Xu wrote in the letter that was addressed to staff and released to media. Revenue for the year is expected to be 636.9 billion yuan ($$91.53 billion), according to Xu. That represents a tiny increase from 2021, when revenue hit 636.8 billion yuan, and marked a 30% year-on-year sales tumble as the U.S. sanctions on the company took effect. The company continues to generate revenue via its networking equipment division, which competes with Nokia (NOKIA.HE) and Ericsson (ERICb.ST). The company began investing in the electric vehicle (EV) sector as well as green technologies around the time sanctions took effect.

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