In this photo taken Sunday, March 8, 2020, a woman wearing a mask against COVID-19 stands near an advertisement for Huawei mobile phones in Beijing. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
The U.S. government is imposing new restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei by limiting its ability to use American technology to build its semiconductors.
The Commerce Department said Friday the move aims to cut off Huawei's undermining of existing U.S. sanctions.
The new restriction is separate from an ongoing Trump administration reprieve on U.S. technology sales to Huawei. The U.S. government blacklisted the Chinese tech company a year ago, deeming it a national security risk, but the limited reprieve allows wireless companies to keep offering service in remote parts of the U.S.
The Commerce Department said this week that reprieve is being extended for another 90 days.
But numerous loopholes have been exploited, especially as U.S. companies continued to supply Huawei with chips made outside the United States. The Commerce Department said the new restriction will “narrowly and strategically" target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors built in overseas foundries but using U.S. software and technology.
Microsoft reported a 20% spike in quarterly profits Tuesday, helping to fuel its battle to get ahead of rivals like Google, Amazon and Facebook parent Meta in selling the latest artificial intelligence technology.
Visa Inc. said its adjusted third-quarter profits rose by nearly double digits, as the global payments company continues to benefit from the broad shift by consumers to using credit and debit cards instead of cash.
Even after inflation has steadily eased this year, the Federal Reserve's policymakers still think prices are rising too fast and are almost certain to lift their key interest rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday.
