TECH

Qualcomm says it has resumed sales of products exempted from Huawei ban

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf recently granted an interview to China-based Caixin. During the interview, the CEO hinted that the company had resumed sales and shipments to Huawei but that is for products not affected by the US trade embargo. Recall that Huawei was placed on the Entity List by the US government which means US companies cannot trade with Huawei except when issued a special license.
The trade embargo has not only affected Huawei but also hurt financial outcomes for many tech giants in the US including Qualcomm, Intel, Microsoft, and Micron and several others. The US firms have severally expressed concerns over the ban. Google was the first to urge the United States government to ease the ban on Huawei. US-based chip makers, including Qualcomm and Intel, have also lobbied for ease on the ban.
The Qualcomm CEO also hinted that the US company is working on a long-term solution but that will require the US government’s approval.
Although Huawei manufactures its own chipset, the company relies on Qualcomm for the supply of Snapdragon processors for some of its phones. Huawei also has access to over 130,000 patents owned by Qualcomm, under a license agreement. However, the products not affected by the ban wasn’t listed but we doubt if it is the important stuff. For instance, Huawei can continue using Android OS but is barred from accessing Google Services.

By Jed John