Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is laying off more than 600 employees from its Futurewei Technologies research and development arm in the U.S., citing its blacklisting by the Trump administration.

First reported July 14, the cuts see Huawei lay off 70% of its 850 U.S.-based R&D staff. Where the staff were laid off was not immediately clear. Huawei has R&D offices in Silicon Valley, Chicago, Washington state and Dallas and a budget last year of $510 million.

Huawei said the job cuts were “due to the curtailment of business operations” caused by the U.S. government’s actions, referring to the ban by the Trump administration in May. As Reuters noted, the trade blacklist has made it illegal for Futurewei, Huawei’s U.S. subsidiary, to transfer sensitive technologies to its parent company. The blacklist also restricts Huawei from purchasing products from U.S. technology companies.

“Decisions like this are never easy to make,” Hauwei said in a statement. “Futurewei will continue to operate in strict compliance with US local laws and regulations.”

“Given the United States’ vulnerability in cyberspace, I think the government is bending over backwards to make America safe, but they’re going too far,” Andy Purdy, Huawei’s chief security officer and former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s national cybersecurity division, told CNN. “If we are forced to go our way, we’ll be okay. But in the long term, I don’t know that Huawei will come back [to America] and I think America will be hurt.”

The news of the layoffs comes a day after President Trump met with tech chief executive officers at the White House. On the same day, Congress targeted Huawei specifically with proposed laws that would further restrict Huawei’s ability to do business with U.S. companies. Huawei is alleged to have partnered with a Chinese company that built a 3G network in North Korea in 2008 in breach of U.S. trade sanctions.

Photo: Duncan Riley