Washington tightens restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei

Washington moved to close off a potential loophole in its sanctions against Chinese tech giant Huawei overnight, underscoring the extent of its falling out with the company, which it alleges spies for Beijing.

Overnight, the Trump administration banned suppliers from selling any chips to Huawei that use American technology, barring a special licence, meaning that the telecommunications equipment giant might not even be able to use off-the-shelf chips.

As a result, Huawei was forced to announce that it would no longer be able to manufacture its top of the line Kirin chipsets starting from September.

It was unclear which Asian suppliers, including giants like South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix or Japan's Sony, had the necessary licenses and whether they would be able to obtain them if not.

The impact of the announcement on the share price of certain potential Huawei suppliers, such as Taiwan's MediaTek, which manufactures chipsets, was especially pronounced, with its stock slumping by around 10% as a result.