Hong Kong (CNN Business) The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is hitting pause on its relationships with Chinese tech firms Huawei and ZTE.

MIT, one of the top universities in the United States, said the move followed a new review of international projects or partnerships that pose an "elevated risk."

accepting new engagements or renewing existing ones with Huawei and ZTE or their respective subsidiaries due to federal investigations regarding violations of sanction restrictions," Maria Zuber and Richard Lester, the university's vice president for research and associate provost respectively, said in a "MIT is notaccepting new engagements or renewing existing ones with Huawei and ZTE or their respective subsidiaries due to federal investigations regarding violations of sanction restrictions," Maria Zuber and Richard Lester, the university's vice president for research and associate provost respectively, said in a letter to the school community on Wednesday.

The administrators also said that the university had determined that working with certain countries — particularly China, Russia and Saudi Arabia — "merit additional faculty and administrative review beyond the usual evaluations."

Any projects involving funding from people or entities from these countries, or MIT faculty or students doing work there, would face further review, they said.