On Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that the US government has ceased approving licenses allowing American companies to export items to Chinese tech firm Huawei.

One of the sources noted a new formal policy is being developed by US officials which will deny exports to Huawei, which would include items below the 5G level. Among the additional items denied will be 4G items, Wi-Fi 6 and 7, artificial intelligence technologies, as well as cloud and high-performance computing items.

Another source indicated the new policy will be consistent with the Biden administration’s increased tightening of restrictions applied to Huawei over the past year. They further indicated that the administration will even be denying licenses for 4G chips which cannot be used for 5G, even though they may have been approved earlier. Before the new policy, licenses for 4G chips which could not be used for 5G were routinely granted.

Without discussing specific companies, a Commerce Department spokesman said that officials, “continually assess our policies and regulations.”

The Reuters report noted that Huawei has been under export restrictions on items for 5G, as well as other technologies for a number of years now. Still, in the past, the Commerce Department had granted licenses which allowed American companies to sell certain items and technologies to the Chinese firm.

In 2019, Huawei was placed on a blacklist for trade which barred most American suppliers from exporting technology-related items to the firm without special licenses. The policy was designed to hamper the company’s ability to design or purchase the semiconductor chips it required to manufacture most of its devices.

China and America have experienced rising tensions lately as the world’s two largest economies have been increasingly in competition for dominance of crucial technologies, especially around semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

The Biden administration had placed China under expansive restrictions with regard to acquiring semi-conductors and chip-manufacturing equipment, in an effort to hamper the advance of China’s chip-making industry, as well as its research into artificial intelligence.