US government receives more than 130 applications for licences to supply Huawei

US government has yet to issue a single licence after adding Huawei to its Entity List on national security grounds more than three months ago

The US Department of Commerce has received more than 130 applications for licences to continue supplying Huawei, according to a Reuters.

Citing three anonymous sources, the newswire claims that no licences have been granted yet, despite the Chinese communications hardware and smartphone maker, together with 68 affiliates, being added to the US government's ‘Entity List' in May over national security concerns.

In July, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had claimed that around 50 applications had been filed.

The US Entity List is a blacklist of sanctioned companies. Suppliers or prospective suppliers of goods or services with any US component need to acquire licences before doing business with the listed organisations or face action by the US government.

In practice, any organisation that does business in the US is advised to abide by the Entity List or risk the threat of action by US authorities. Given the size and importance of the US economy, that amounts to a near-global embargo.

When Huawei was placed on the List in May, Google, Microsoft and a number of other companies, both US and non-US, immediately halted sales to, or work with, Huawei and its listed affiliates.

US companies supply around $10 billion-$11 billion of components, software and services to Huawei every year. While Huawei would be crippled without their technology, US suppliers would also suffer significant financial losses.

The US government therefore announced a three-month stay of execution within days of the surprise move in May, and earlier this month extended it by another three months. The new deadline is 19^th November.

However, uncertainty remains, not just by the Trump administration's unpredictability and its belief that the integrity of Huawei's products could be compromised by China's government, but also by the deepening trade war between the US and China.

Last week, China imposed tariffs on $75 billion-worth of US goods, while President Trump vowed that he would raise tariffs on $550 billion of imports from China in retaliation.

As a result, companies have been stockpiling key components over fears that their supply chains could be disrupted, while also looking to produce goods in Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian countries instead of China.