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Reuters reports the Trump administration may seek a penalty up to $1.7 billion from ZTE. In addition to the hefty fine, the U.S. Department of Commerce is also seeking unrestricted access to sites to verify US components are being used as claimed by ZTE.

As previously mentioned on this blog, ZTE is banned from purchasing from US hardware and software suppliers for 7 years due to violating U.S. export controls. This ban would severely limit ZTE’s ability to make phones as US companies provide 25-30% of the components in ZTE equipment, with ZTE paying over $2.3 billion to US suppliers.

As the penalty can change anytime – check back for more updates.