TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Sony Corp and memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings Corp have applied for U.S. approval to continue supplying Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Nikkei reported on Sunday.
If confirmed, the move follows other tech companies such as Intel Corp that recently received licences from U.S. authorities.
With U.S.-China ties at their worst in decades, Washington has been pushing governments around to world to squeeze out Huawei, arguing that the telecoms giant would transfer data to the Chinese government for espionage.
Huawei is one of the top customers for Sony’s image sensors for smartphones. Kioxia Holdings Corp is the world’s No. 2 maker of flash memory chips and a Huawei supplier.
Nikkei here said without U.S. licenses, Sony and Kioxia would face risk to their earnings.
Kioxia warned that U.S. curbs on Huawei could trigger memory chip oversupply and lower prices. It recently shelved a plan for a multi-billion dollar listing as U.S-China tensions cloud the global chip market.
A Sony spokeswoman said the company was in compliance with all regulations, but could not comment on particular clients.
A Kioxia spokesman also declined to comment.
Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki, Ju-min Park; Editing by Dan Grebler
