The United States Department of Commerce has reportedly agreed to extend ZTE's temporary export license to March 29, 2017, allowing American companies to continue to provide software, technologies, and restrictive components published in March 2016 to ZTE.
Prior to this, the Chinese telecom device manufacturer received an export restriction from the American government and its export license was due for expiration on February 27, 2017. However, the extension is shorter than the previously approved 90 days by the United States Department of Commerce, which means ZTE is still facing pressure.
ZTE stated on February 14 that they were negotiating with the United States Department of Commerce, United States Department of the Treasury, and United States Department of Justice to end their investigation about ZTE's violation of American laws by exporting U.S.-made products to Iran and other sanctioned countries.
ZTE also said that the expected punishment may bring a huge impact to the financial performance of the company. At present, ZTE's annual sales are over USD15 billion.
ZTE is one of the largest telecom device manufacturers in the world and it has about 10% market share in the U.S., where its suppliers include Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Intel. The company is also the fourth largest smartphone supplier in the U.S. and its clients include AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.
