Huawei's hard drive supplier, Seagate, has been fined USD 300 million for violating the US Commerce Department's ban on Huawei. Seagate is a world-leading enterprise in data storage solutions and is the largest manufacturer of hard drives, disks, and read-write heads globally.
According to a Reuters report, the US government placed Huawei on a specific commodity trade blacklist in 2019, but Seagate continued to sell the relevant products to Huawei from August 2020 to September 2021. After the 2020 rule went into effect, Seagate shipped 7.4 million drives to Huawei and reached a three-year cooperation agreement with Huawei, becoming the sole supplier of hard drives to Huawei.
This was confirmed in Seagate's announcement on 19th April. According to the settlement agreement between Seagate and the US Commerce Department, Seagate agreed to pay a USD 300 million fine in installments of USD 15 million per quarter over five years, with the first payment due before October 2023.
"We believe entering this agreement with BIS and resolving this matter is in the best interest of Seagate, our customers and our shareholders," said Seagate CEO Dave Mosley. Seagate's announcement stated that accepting this penalty was to focus on current business challenges and long-term business strategies, and the settlement agreement reflects Seagate's strong commitment to compliance.
According to recent reports by Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration plans to revoke licenses of other Huawei suppliers, cutting off China's companies and technology from the United States.