U.S. Semiconductor Companies Urge Trump to Hurry Huawei Licenses

The U.S. semiconductor industry urged President Donald Trump to make good on his promise to ease the ban on sales to Huawei, according to Bloomberg.

“We encourage prompt action to issue approvals for sales that do not implicate national security concerns, particularly where there is foreign availability for competing products,“ the Semiconductor Industry Association said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Intel, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments are among members of the association.

Huawei is the third-largest buyer globally of U.S. semiconductors, the association said in the letter. Sales to Huawei of “non-sensitive“ products ranging from mobile phones to smart-watches “do not implicate national security concerns,“ the group said. The ban is making it more difficult for U.S. firms to compete against foreign rivals that don’t face the same restrictions, according to the letter.

Delays in awarding the special licenses could weaken the U.S. semiconductor industry because it will lead to lower profits, forcing some companies to cut research and eroding their dominance in the global market, the association said.