Chinese tech giant Huawei is reportedly planning on axing hundreds of jobs at its US operations.
People familiar with the matter told the WSJ that the planned layoffs are expected to target employees at Huawei’s research and development subsidiary Futurewei Technologies. Futurewei employs about 850 people across Texas, California and Washington state.
One person told the WSJ that employees in the US have been given the option to return home and stay working with the company.
The exact number of layoffs was not revealed. However, sources told the paper that hundreds of employees could be affected.
According to the WSJ report, Futurewei employees have faced restrictions communicating with colleagues at the parent company’s home offices in China.
Huawei declined to comment, the WSJ report said.
The news comes amid heightened concern in the US over potential security risks associated with certain aspects of Huawei’s operations in the country.
The US Commerce Department to put Huawei on its so-called entity list, which is essentially a U.S. sales ban on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Tech preventing US companies from supplying it with computer chips, software and other components without government approval.
The Trump administration said earlier this month that it would only provide exemptions when it can determine there is no national security threat.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said last week that the US would issue licenses to companies seeking to sell goods to Huawei where there was no threat to national security.
Huawei shut down US sales of solar inverters
According to Bloomberg, Huawei also discontinued U.S. sales of solar inverters.
The decision to exit the US market comes months after lawmakers in the US raised concerns about the company supplying solar inverters in the US, citing the potential for China to use them for spying.
