Huawei, which sells $60 billion annually in telecom equipment, did not address the subpoena but issued the following statement: “Huawei is committed to complying with the applicable laws and regulations in the markets where Huawei operates and export control measures promulgated by the worldwide community”.
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According to the New York Times, the US Commerce Department has demanded that Huawei provides information about its export of US technologies to these five countries.
Chinese technology behemoth Huawei is being investigated by the U.S. Commerce Department because of its connection to transactions in North Korea, Iran and Cuba.
Huawei is not being accused of criminal wrongdoing, the Times added, explaining the subpoena is administrative in nature.
Huawei, which competes with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.in the global telecommunications market, declined through a spokesman to comment on any document request.
US national security concerns have helped scuttle several attempts by Huawei to expand its presence in the country.
According to the Times, the subpoena was issued after US officials earlier blocked sales of American technology to another Chinese company ZTE Corp, Huawei’s smaller rival. In March, the US government slapped the company with export restrictions in the wake of allegations ZTE violated USA export controls on Iran.
The subpoena is part of Washington’s investigation into whether the Chinese telecom giant has violated U.S. export rules, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing an unnamed source.
One fear has been that the Chinese software in the routers made it more hard for American, British and other communications intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on messages within and among countries such as Iran and Cuba that use Huawei products.
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Huawei retains six research centers in the United States and its USA branch is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
