ARM Resumes Relations with Huawei
UK chip manufacturer ARM has decided to resume its supply of chips to Huawei after cutting them off in May thanks to the US-China trade war. ARM has stated that its chips are of UK origin and so supplying the Chinese tech manufacturer with them would not breach the embargo placed on Huawei by the US. HiSilicon, a Huawei subsidiary that produces the chipsets for the company’s smartphones, use blueprints from ARM chips as a template for their designs.
ARM had ceased agreements with Huawei after concerns were raised that some of their proprietary chip technology originated in the US. Under the Trump administration’s ban on technology with the Chinese government and close business partners (or which Huawei is the most conspicuous) exporting that technology would be a breach of the government’s embargo. ARM released a statement that the ARM v8 and ARM v9 were both of UK origin, and they would be happy to aid HiSilicon in their future developments.
Companies Resuming Relationships
The trade war embargo with Huawei has initially hit the company severely, with the Chinese global tech supplier posting a significant lost lass quarter. However, the company has made moves to reconnect with non-US suppliers for many of its products. It has also managed to re-establish relationships with some suppliers of its core products. Huawei also recently announced the development of Harmony OS, which they intend to use as a replacement for the Android OS if they happen to lose the license to use it as a result of the trade sanctions.
Relaxation of the embargo on Huawei has also seen chip manufacturer Qualcomm look favorably at the company as a business partner. The US administration relaxed regulations at their last review of the embargo, allowing for the provision of exclusive licenses to companies that wanted to conduct business with their Chinese counterparts. To date, over 130 companies have applied to gain special permission to trade with Chinese enterprises.
