Huawei, the world’s largest smartphone supplier, says it’s stopping processor chips due to US sanctions against the company, The Associated Press report. And according to Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business unit, with effect from next month, the Chinese phone maker will no longer be able to make its own Kirin chipsets due to the continued economic pressure from the US.
“Unfortunately, in the second round of US sanctions, our chip producers only accept orders until May 15. Production will close on September 15,” Yu told a conference on August 7. “This year may be the latest generation of Huawei Kirin high-end chips.” Huawei’s upcoming Mate 40 phone, scheduled for release in September, could be the latest phone with a Kirin chip.
The US has accused Huawei of building backdoors in network infrastructure, apparently to help Chinese government spies. Huawei has denied allegations by the Trump administration of spies. But the Trump administration placed Huawei and 114 of its affiliates on its Entity List in May 2019, meaning U.S. companies were unable to sell technology to the company without the explicit approval of the U.S. government.
It also meant that Google was prevented from doing business with Huawei, preventing Huawei from getting an Android license and keeping Google apps from Huawei devices. The commission used the International Law of Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify the ban, reading that “openness must be balanced by the need to protect our country from critical national security threats.”
Trump later extended the order until May 2021. Then in May, the U.S. Commerce Department issued an amended export rule to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei to “strategically focus on Huawei’s purchases of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software. and technology. “
That rule prevented foreign semiconductor manufacturers that use American software and technology in their operations from shipping their products to Huawei unless they were first licensed by the US. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world, reported stopped orders for Huawei’s HiSilicon unit in May following the new US rule.
Despite the ban in the US, Huawei existed earlier this year Samsung as the world’s largest smartphone retailer, and shipped more phones between April and June than any other company, according to analyst firm Canalys.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm had asked the Trump administration to reduce restrictions on the sale of components to Huawei, and to allow it to sell chips to Huawei for use in its 5G phones.
