BIS Approved Billions Worth of Export Licenses for Suppliers of Huawei, SMIC

The Bureau of Industry and Security approved more than a combined $100 billion worth of export licenses for shipments to Huawei and Chinese top chipmaker SMIC from November 9, 2020, through April 20, 2021, according to documents released Oct. 21 by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. BIS said it approved 113 licenses for Huawei -- about 70% of the total license applications it received -- for more than $61 billion worth of goods during that time period. The agency also approved 188 licenses for SMIC -- about 90% of the total it received -- for more than $41 billion worth of exports.

BIS said it denied two applications for Huawei and returned 48 without action during that time period. It also denied one application for SMIC and returned 17 without action. In a statement, BIS stressed that "approved license applications do not represent actual shipments." Huawei has been on the Commerce Department's Entity List since May 2019 (see 1905160072) and SMIC was added in December (see 2012180039), subjecting both to a presumption of denial for license applications.

The licensing statistics were released to the committee after they were requested by Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the committee’s top Republican (see 2109100023).