US Chipmakers Want TO Remove The Huawei Trade Ban

In the month of March, the US Commerce Department put Chinese tech giant, Huawei in an entity list. This move barred all American companies from having any sort of trade relations with the Chinese corporation which has caused a global stir up. Following the ban, Huawei was left stranded due to the withdrawal of support from American companies for its software and hardware offerings. The major impact of the ban was received by the company’s smartphone division which was once anticipated to take over Samsung in the year 2020.

Huawei is not the only company that is undergoing discomfort after the ban. As US-based chipmakers including Qualcomm and Intel are losing a lot of business. Therefore, in order to curb the losses, American companies are lobbying against Huawei’s trade ban. According to a Reuters report, officials from several US based companies are questioning US Commerce Department about the ban imposed on the Chinese company. Speaking of figures, Huawei spent $70 Billion buying components in the year 2018, out of which $11 billion went to U.S. firms including Qualcomm, Intel and Micron Technology Inc. 

Huawei is accused of installing backdoors on its networking equipment which incorporates proprietary components developed in house by the company. Taking this fact into consideration, American Chipmakers want the US government to lift the ban from the Chinese company’s smartphone division. As these devices utilise commonly available components which are unlikely to present the same security concerns as companies networking gear. 

Earlier this month, Huawei Chairman, Liang Hua told the Chinese press that Google, which sells hardware, software and technical services to Huawei, has also advocated in favour of lifting the ban so it can keep the trade relation alive. 

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Another senior executive from Huawei’s Mexico division stated that the company has not asked anyone specifically to lobby on its behalf. Following is the statement of the said executive.

“They’re doing it by their own desire because, for many of them, Huawei is one of their major customers,” he said, adding that chipmakers knew that cutting Huawei off could have “catastrophic” consequences for them.

Amidst all the pandemonium, only time will tell what the future beholds for Huawei.