Huawei Supplier Hires Ex-U.S. Official as China Tensions Grow
MediaTek Inc. has hired a former U.S. Department of Commerce
official to help the Taiwanese chipmaker navigate worsening U.S.-China tensions
that have already ensnared its customer Huawei Technologies Co.
Patrick Wilson, who most recently served as director of the
Office of Business Liaison for the Department of Commerce, will be appointed
vice president of government affairs at MediaTek USA and lead its public policy
initiatives, the company said in a draft press statement seen by Bloomberg
News. Wilson previously worked at the Semiconductor Industry Association, where
he led the trade group’s dealings with the federal government.
Technology companies with ties to or operations in China
have come under increasing scrutiny from Washington amid growing tensions with
Beijing, forcing them to ramp up spending on lobbying efforts in the U.S. The
Commerce Department said in May it would require licenses before allowing U.S.
technology to be used by Huawei or its 114 subsidiaries, including its
chip-design unit HiSilicon, thus preventing suppliers including Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. from shipping HiSilicon-designed parts to the
Chinese company.
Earlier this year, TSMC hired former Intel Corp. lobbyist
Peter Cleveland, while ByteDance Ltd., the Chinese owner of the viral TikTok
app that has also come under U.S. scrutiny, spent a record $500,000 on federal
lobbying in the quarter ended June 30.
Analysts are expecting Huawei to rely on MediaTek for more
orders after TSMC said it will not ship new chips designed by HiSilicon after
Sept. 15. MediaTek may supply its chips to Huawei for a flagship handset that
may be introduced this year as the U.S. export controls impact supply from Qualcomm
Inc. and TSMC, Sanford C. Bernstein analysts including Mark Li wrote in a July
23 note.
Comments
Post a Comment