Intel did not disclose the name of the Chinese customer that
had licenses canceled in its filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, but Reuters had reported on Tuesday the U.S. has revoked licenses
that allowed companies, including Intel and Qualcomm, to ship chips used for
laptops and handsets to sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei
Technologies.
The release of Huawei's first AI-enabled laptop in April,
the MateBook X Pro powered by Intel's new Core Ultra 9 processor, drew fire
from Republican lawmakers, who said it suggests that the Commerce Department
had given the green light to Intel to sell the chip to Huawei.
Intel's shares were down 2.9% at $29.80 on Wednesday
afternoon after the company said it expects revenue for the second quarter to
remain in the range of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion, but below the midpoint.
Intel shares have lost nearly 38% so far this year.
Qualcomm also said on Wednesday that one of its export
licenses for Huawei had been revoked; its shares were flat.
"Huawei is a threat," Commerce Secretary Gina
Raimondo told Reuters after a congressional hearing on Wednesday, adding that
the move was not a change in policy.
"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," she
said. "So if a chip that we previously licensed for example, now we
discover had AI capabilities, we're going to revoke the license."
The Chinese foreign ministry, which has criticized every
effort by the U.S. to crack down on tech exports to China, said in a statement
it opposed the move and that the U.S. was "over-stretching the concept of
national security and abusing export controls to suppress Chinese companies
without justification."
The United States placed Huawei on a trade restriction list
in 2019 amid fears it could spy on Americans, part of a broader effort to
handicap China's ability to bolster its military. Joining the list means the
company's suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before
shipping.
The new restrictions on Huawei are President Joe Biden's
latest effort to deny China access to the United States' most sensitive and
sophisticated “crown jewel” technology in a bid to thwart Beijing.
Biden has used export bans, diplomacy with like-minded
democracies and other means to stifle China’s swift technological advances in
areas from quantum computing to robotics, and even explained the strategy to
Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a new normal in an era of competition between two
nations with different political systems.