THE Trump administration Friday moved to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei Technologies from global chipmakers.

The U.S. Commerce Department said it was amending an export rule to “strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.”

The department added the “announcement cuts off Huawei’s efforts to undermine U.S. export controls.”

The rule change is a blow to Huawei, the world’s No. 2 smartphone maker.

China has urged the United States to stop the “unreasonable suppression of Huawei and Chinese enterprises” Saturday.

“The Chinese Government will firmly uphold Chinese firms’ legitimate and legal rights and interests,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“We urge the U.S. side to immediately stop its unreasonable suppression of Huawei and Chinese enterprises.”

The ministry said the Trump administration’s actions “destroy global manufacturing, supply and value chains.”

Huawei has increasingly relied on domestically manufactured technology, but the latest rules will also ban foreign firms that use U.S. technology from shipping semiconductors to Huawei without U.S. permission.

The new restrictions will cut off Huawei’s access to one of its major suppliers, the Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, which also manufactures chips for Apple and other tech firms.

The United States last year banned Huawei from using U.S.-manufactured semiconductors in their products.

China has threatened retaliation against the United States for the move, including imposing restrictions on major U.S. firms and putting them on an “unreliable entity list,” according to an anonymous source quoted in the Global Times on Friday.

U.S. tech giants Apple, Cisco, Qualcomm and planemaker Boeing are among the firms that may be targeted, the report said.

Huawei, which needs semiconductors for its widely used smartphones and telecom equipment, is at the heart of a battle for global technological dominance between the United States and China.

The United States is trying to convince allies to exclude Huawei gear from next generation 5G networks on grounds its equipment could be used for spying. Huawei has repeatedly denied the claim.

Huawei has continued to use U.S. software and technology to design semiconductors, the U.S. Commerce Department said, despite being placed on a U.S. economic blacklist in May 2019.

Under the rule change, foreign companies that use U.S. chipmaking equipment will be required to obtain a U.S. license before supplying certain chips to Huawei, or an affiliate like HiSilicon.

In order for Huawei to continue to receive some chipsets or use some semiconductor designs tied to certain U.S. software and technology, it would need to receive licenses from the U.S. Commerce Department.

The United States placed Huawei and 114 affiliates on its economic blacklist citing national security concerns.

(SD-Agencies)