https://phys.org/news/2018-06-senate-votes-reimpose-china-zte.html > The company has been on life support since Washington said it had banned US companies from selling crucial hardware and software components to ZTE for seven years. > US officials imposed the ban because of what they said were false statements by the firm over actions it claimed to have taken regarding the illegal sale of goods to Iran and North Korea. ZTE pleaded guilty to those charges in March last year and was hit with $1.2 billion in fines.