Huawei says ‘pernicious’ US chip restrictions threaten global economy

Shenzhen, China | AFP | Chinese technology giant Huawei on Monday assailed the latest US move to cut it off from semiconductor suppliers as a “pernicious” attack that will sow chaos in the global technology sector and other industries.

The Commerce Department said on Friday it was tightening sanctions on Huawei — seen by Washington as a security risk — to include denying access to semiconductor designs developed using US software and technology.

The company had withheld immediate comment, but came out swinging on Monday.

“The decision was arbitrary and pernicious and threatens to undermine the entire (technology) industry worldwide,” a Huawei spokesman said.

Huawei, which has largely weathered an escalating 18-month campaign by the Trump administration to isolate it internationally, said its business “will inevitably be affected” by the new American salvo.

It will “impact the expansion, maintenance and continuous operations of networks worth hundreds of billions of dollars that we have rolled out in more than 170 countries”.

The statement was issued during an annual summit of technology analysts that it organises at its headquarters in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

But it added: “This decision by the US government does not just affect Huawei.

“It will have a serious impact on a wide number of global industries” by creating uncertainty in the chip sector and technology supply chains.

Officials said Huawei had been circumventing sanctions by obtaining chips and components that are produced around the world based on US technology.