Qualcomm and Huawei are back in business again
Qualcomm makes their own chipsets and so does Huawei, but in case you didn’t know, Huawei actually sources a fair amount of technology from Qualcomm. This is why when Huawei was hit with the trade ban which barred them from doing business with US companies, it actually did Qualcomm a disservice.
Now, as some of you might have heard, the US government decided to cut Huawei some slack where they allowed US companies to apply for licenses to do business with Huawei again, and it looks like Qualcomm has had their license approved. This means that both Qualcomm and Huawei will be able to resume their business deals again, although exactly what kind of business this will cover is unclear.
Speaking to Caixin (paywall), Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf revealed that the company was looking to secure a long-term supply deal with Huawei.
“Every US company is subject to trade regulation to a certain extent, but in fact, Qualcomm has restarted its supply to Huawei and has been trying to ensure continued supply in the future.”
We should point out that while US companies can apply for the license, there is no guarantee that they will be granted. The license will also be limited in its scope of business, where it can only be for products and services that won’t have an impact on national security.
It has been estimated that Huawei themselves have spent $11 billion a year on business dealings with US companies, so the ban could end up hurting quite a bit of local businesses had it been fully enforced.
Source: GSMArena