Opinion | Micron’s shipments to Huawei show that in the globalised world, American technology products are not necessarily American
- Only 22 per cent of Micron’s property, plants and equipment are in the US
- A third is in Taiwan, followed by 30 per cent in Singapore, while less than 2 per cent is in China
American technology products aren’t necessarily American.
During an earnings conference call on Tuesday, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said: “To ensure compliance, Micron immediately suspended shipments to Huawei and began a review of Micron products sold to Huawei to determine whether they are subject to the imposed restrictions. Through this review, we determined that we could lawfully resume shipping a subset of current products because they are not subject to export administration regulations and entity list restrictions.”
He didn’t elaborate on that “subset,” and noted that there’s ongoing uncertainty. In at least some cases, the US Department of Commerce, which administers the ban, has been consulted about what can and can’t be sold, The New York Times reported.
Meanwhile, officials at the Commerce Department and the White House are frustrated that companies have resumed Huawei shipments, Bloomberg reported.