Trump Orders HieFo to Divest Emcore Chip Assets, Blocks $2.9M Deal

On Jan. 2, 2026, the White House and Treasury issued an order directing HieFo Corporation to divest the digital chips business and related wafer-fabrication assets it acquired from EMCORE Corporation, citing a national-security finding by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The move bars HieFo from maintaining any interest or rights in the EMCORE Digital Chips Business and places enforcement oversight with CFIUS.

The transaction at issue covered EMCORE’s digital chips and indium-phosphide wafer-fabrication operations and a semiconductor manufacturing facility. The purchase price was roughly $2.92 million, a sum that included the assumption of approximately $1 million in liabilities. The administration framed the divestment as necessary to address the risk that continued foreign control could relocate sensitive capabilities away from the United States and thereby threaten U.S. national security.

EMCORE is a New Jersey corporation. HieFo, incorporated in Delaware, is identified in the order as a foreign person; public records and reporting indicate the company was organized and is controlled by a Chinese citizen. HieFo’s chief executive, identified as Zhang, had previously served as a vice president of engineering at EMCORE and pledged after the acquisition to "continue the pursuit of the most innovative and disruptive solutions" with technologies intended for uses that would include artificial intelligence.

The White House gave HieFo 180 days to complete the divestiture, with CFIUS empowered to supervise enforcement and to grant additional time if warranted. How quickly the assets return to U.S. control will depend on whether buyers acceptable to CFIUS emerge and on any further determinations about timing or remediation. The order was published as the administration broadens scrutiny of foreign investment in semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities.

The transaction was announced or completed in 2024 while EMCORE was publicly traded; EMCORE was taken private last year by investment firm Charlesbank Capital Partners. The administration’s action follows a broader policy push to limit foreign, and particularly Chinese, access to advanced semiconductor technologies. Last month the administration announced tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports to take effect in June 2027, part of a package intended to blunt transfer of sensitive capabilities.

The order represents one of the most direct applications of CFIUS authority to a completed acquisition of semiconductor assets. CFIUS reviews historically have produced mitigation agreements, divestments, or blocked transactions when foreign control of U.S. companies raised plausible national-security concerns. Officials framing the latest decision said the specific worry was that foreign control of the wafer-fabrication assets would enable relocation or loss of critical know-how.

HieFo has not publicly detailed a response to the order. The pace and outcome of the divestiture process will hinge on whether CFIUS identifies buyers that preserve operations in the United States and on any appeals or requests for extended timelines. For an industry already grappling with supply chain shifts and heavy regulatory scrutiny, the order underscores increased government willingness to use national-security tools to shape the ownership of strategic semiconductor capabilities.