Last week the US government blacklisted Huawei. Major US companies like Google, Qualcomm, and Intel were quick to sever business ties with the company to comply with the order. Firms outside the US have also decided to cut ties with Huawei, including in the UK and Japan.
Since the US government blacklisted the Chinese tech giant Huawei, a slew of companies have cut ties with the firm.
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency that allowed Huawei to be designated as a national security risk, leading the Department of Commerce to place the firm on an “entity list.” This means US firms have to seek government permission before doing business with Huawei.
Big US firms were quick to respond to the order, though Huawei subsequently received a three month license to get its house in order before the blacklisting fully kicks in. It isn’t just American companies that are cutting ties, however.Here is a rundown of the biggest firms that are severing business relations with Huawei.
- Goggle
Shortly after Huawei was blacklisted by the US government, Google announced that it was revoking the company’s access to its Android service. Google had cut off supply to hardware as well as software.The news was a huge blow to Huawei, as all of its phones a run on Google’s Android operating system. It means millions of Huawei customers could lose access to security updates and suffer other disruption.After the Department of Commerce granted Huawei a 90-day reprieve before the ban fully kicks in, Google said it had put its Android suspension on hold. But at the moment, this is simply delaying the inevitable.Huawei has been working on building its own operating system as a “plan B” for years, and though little is known about it, an executive told CNBC it could be ready for China by this fall and for the rest of the world in the first or second quarter of 2020.
- Qualcomm
Key US chipmaking companies such as Qualcomm were quick to act. Three days after Huawei was blacklisted, Qualcomm had told its employees it wouldn’t be supplying Huawei until further notice.
- Intel
Intel was another big name on the list of American chipmakers to cut Huawei off, though Huawei has stockpiled at least three months’ worth of chips and other components in anticipation of a ban.
Lumentum, the IS maker of mobile phone parts, also announced it had stopped shipping parts to Huawei, which it said made up 18% of its total revenue in its latest quarter.
- Panasonic
The Japanese tech behemoth Panasonic on Thursday announced it had cut ties with Huawei. “We’ve stopped all business transactions with Huawei and its 68 group companies … that are subject to the US government ban,” a spokesman said.
- Arm
The UK chip designer Arm issued a memo to employees telling them to stop “all active contracts, support entitlements, and any pending engagements” with Huawei, the BBC reports. The memo said its designs contained “US-origin technology.”Arm licenses its technology rather than manufacturing chips itself. The Economist Hal Hodson pointed out on Twitter that companies typically buy up licenses from Arm several years in advance, meaning it’s possible that Huawei has two to three years’ worth of licenses stored up.
- Vodafone
The UK’s largest mobile carrier, Vodafone, on Wednesday announced it was dropping Huawei handsets from its 5G launch, which is due July 3.”We are pausing preorders for the Huawei Mate 20 X (5G) in the UK,” a spokesman said. “This is a temporary measure while uncertainty exists regarding new Huawei 5G devices. We will keep this situation under review.”
- EE
The British mobile carrier EE joined Vodafone in excluding Huawei from its 5G plans, which are due to launch May 30.EE noted that it took the decision to can Huawei’s 5G phones following Google’s withdrawal of Android.
