The US companies – tech related – are carrying out the trading with Huawei even though the Chinese company has been added to the US trade blacklist, or at least that is what the sources close to Huawei say.
According to reports, Intel and Micron are not labelling their goods as ‘American made’ in order to continue selling these products to the Chinese tech firm, Huawei. For those of you who are not up to speed, Huawei has been added onto an ‘entity list’ that is formed of Chinese companies that have been banned from trading with American companies unless they are able to obtain a special license from the US government.
The export ban means that Huawei has not been able to buy chips from US suppliers. The trade ban has also caused problems for Huawei and its access to the Google-owned Android operating system. It has been reported that chips produced by the US companies have started shipping to Huawei about three weeks ago. These chips will assist Huawei in carrying on with its manufacturing of smartphones and other devices.
It goes to show how the Trump administration might have underestimated or not accounted for the backlash from the US companies in the context of the ban. Google has already expressed its concerns about the security if Huawei is able to come up with its own OS. Post-ban many of the US companies were completely unsure about what they could or couldn’t sell to Huawei, and according to Huawei, it will be dealing with a loss of $30 billion dollars over the course of two years thanks to this ban.
John Neuffer is the president of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and expressed his frustration over the ban via the following statement on SIA’s website, ‘SIA companies are committed to rigorous compliance with US export control regulations. As we have discussed with the US government, it is now clear some items may be supplied to Huawei consistent with the Entity List and applicable regulations.
Each company is impacted differently based on their specific products and supply chains, and each company must evaluate how best to conduct its business and remain in compliance. Over the longer term, SIA remains concerned restrictions on our ability to sell commercial products in major markets will erode the competitiveness of the US semiconductor industry.
We continue to call on the US government to help advance US semiconductor leadership as it works to preserve US national security.’