Huawei about to feel the sting of US sanctions

Huawei is forced to stop production of its flagship Kirin smartphone processors by 15 September, Associated Press reports based on recordings of a Huawei executive speaking at an industry conference. US sanctions make it impossible for Hisilicon, Huawei’s chip division, to keep making the chipsets, the CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Unit explained.

In a series of measures, the US Department of Commerce has made it illegal to supply Huawei with US technology. This includes the EDA software Hisilicon needs to design its chips. It also precludes TSMC from manufacturing chips for the Chinese telecom firm, as the foundry uses equipment from US companies.

With Huawei in need of high-end chipsets, the Wall Street Journal reported that Qualcomm is lobbying in Washington for permission to sell smartphone chips to Huawei. According to Qualcomm, current US policy wouldn’t hurt Huawei because it can source the components at Mediatek and Samsung. This could make the US lose out on as much as 8 billion dollars a year.