Sony, Memory Chipmaker Kioxia Seeking US Approval to Supply to Huawei

Japan’s Sony and memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings have applied for US approval to continue supplying Huawei, Nikkei reported on Sunday. If confirmed, the move follows other tech companies such as Intel Corp that recently received licenses from US authorities.

With US-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 is the world’s No. 2 maker of flash memory chips and a Huawei supplier.

Nikkei said without US licenses, Sony and Kioxia would face risk to their earnings.

Kioxia warned that US curbs on Huawei could trigger memory chip oversupply and lower prices. It recently shelved a plan for a multi-billion dollar listing as US-China tensions cloud the global chip market.