Citing concerns about China and national security, President Donald Trump on Friday rejected the $3 million purchase of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense expert Emcore by U.S. photonics company HieFo Corp.
Trump claimed in a White House order that HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that the company’s 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s companies led him to believe it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”
The order did not specify Trump’s objections or identify the person.
Trump declared, “The transaction is hereby prohibited,” directing HieFo to “divest all interests and rights in the Emcore Assets, wherever located,” within 180 days.
Following Trump’s directive, the Treasury Department claimed that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States found a national security risk in its examination of the transaction.
The risk to national security was not mentioned in the statement.
As of late Friday, HieFo and Emcore had not issued a response on their websites and could not be contacted for comment.
Emcore, which was publicly traded at the time of the transaction before becoming private, claims that HieFo paid $2.92 million to acquire its chips division and indium-phosphide wafer manufacturing facilities.
At the time, HieFo claimed to have been co-founded by Harry Moore, a former senior sales director at Emcore, and Genzao Zhang, a former vice president of engineering at Emcore.
