By Jeanne Whalen May 15, 2020 at 5:22 p.m. EDT The Trump administration issued new rules Friday intended to block additional semiconductor sales to China’s Huawei in a hardening of its stance against a company it views as a security threat.
The administration last year banned the export of U.S. technology to Huawei, but the Chinese tech giant was still able to purchase semiconductors made outside the United States with U.S. software and equipment. The Department of Commerce said the new rule is designed to address that loophole.
The news came as a large Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer announced it would build a $12 billion factory in Arizona that would create 1,600 jobs. Both the company, TSMC, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross described the investment as critical to reinforcing U.S. high-tech manufacturing.
Both developments highlight the increasingly tense technology competition between the United States and China. Asked in an interview with Fox Business what the United States is doing to reduce its manufacturing reliance on China, Ross on Friday pointed to the TSMC news.