House Foreign Affairs Committee Releases Data on Export License Decisions Related to Huawei and SMIC

Simon Lester -

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives decided to disclose aggregated data from the Commerce Department on licensing decisions for possible sales to Chinese telecoms company Huawei and semiconductor company SMIC for the six month period from November 2020 to April 2021. These companies are on the Commerce Department's Entity List, and therefore a license is required to sell to them.

Export Control Licensing Decisions for Huawei (November 9, 2020-April 20, 2021)

• Total number of license applications considered: 169

• 113 Approvals (69.3%)   $61,432,330,663 (Value of Licenses)

- Category 3 (electronic items, such as semiconductors, that can be controlled for national security and military technology purposes): 7 licenses, $2,014,099,305

- Category 5 (cryptographic information security that can be controlled for national security purposes): 1 license, $170,000,000

- AT (Nearly half (12) of these items were various types of semiconductors): 25 licenses, $14,260,254,443

- EAR99 (Nearly half (36) of these items were various types of semiconductors): 80 licenses, $44,987,976,915

• 48 Returned Without Action (28.4%)   $29,775,410,958 (Value of Licenses)

- Category 6: 1 license, $1,029,026

- AT: 6 licenses, $5,700,635,407

- EAR99: 41 licenses, $24,073,746,525

• 2 Denials (1.2%)   $57,408,002 (Value of Licenses)

- AT: 1 license, $57,408,000

- EAR99: 1 license, $2

Export Control Licensing Decisions for SMIC (November 9, 2020-April 20, 2021)

• Total number of license applications considered: 206

• 188 Approvals (91.3%)   $41,892,580,680 (Value of Licenses)

- Category 2 (material processing items that can be controlled for Chemical and Biological reasons): 26 licenses, $1,077,161

- Category 3 (electronic items, including equipment used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, that can be controlled for Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Anti-Terrorism, and National Security reasons): 10 licenses, $203,253,808

- Category 5 (information security items, including the servicing of hardware and software, that can be controlled for National Security reasons): 3 licenses, $33,184

- AT (includes parts and equipment used to manufacture semiconductors): 28 licenses, $6,589,192,935

- EAR99 (includes software, gases, chemicals, and parts used to manufacture semiconductors): 121 licenses, $35,099,023,592

• 17 Returned Without Action (8.3%)   $1,159,996,615 (Value of Licenses)

- Category 2: 2 licenses, $2,531,392

- Category 5: 3 licenses, $14

- AT: 1 license, $4,000

- EAR99: 11 licenses, $1,157,461,209

• 1 Denial (0.5%)   $57,408,000 (Value of Licenses)

- AT: 1 license, $57,408,000

The Commerce Department offered a number of qualifications that should be taken into account when considering this data. First, it noted that "approved license applications do not represent actual shipments. Generally, about one-half of all licenses are utilized." Second, the data "include information on applications for exports of equipment that may not be destined to Huawei or SMIC since those entities only have to be a party to the transaction for the Entity List requirements to apply." And finally, it emphasized that "the public release of aggregate licensing data for certain PRC companies on the Entity List, over an arbitrary snapshot in time, risks politicizing the licensing process and misrepresenting the national security determinations made by the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, and State."