ARM says it can do business with Huawei

Things maybe looking up for Chinese smartphone maker,Huawei. According to an article by Reuters, ARM stated that it’s legal team has determined that the company can continue to do business with the Chinese firm. Unlike Qualcomm and the like, ARM’s current chips are of UK origin, and therefore exempt from the US ban announced in May this year.

The UK firm’s blueprints underpin most modern mobile chips, including Huawei’s HiSilicon such as the Kirin 980 and 990. This should come as a relief to the Chinese firm and its legion of customers, who have been concerned regarding its future in international markets.

ARM, a world leading chip designer went on to say that it doesn’t see any problems with supplying Huawei with its current and next generation micoarchitecture for the Chinese telecommunications giant’s smartphones. This means a great deal considering that Huawei has had to stockpile chips in anticipation of the US ban.

The United States announced this ban in May, which halted US companies from conducting business with Huawei on the grounds of national security. This meant that companies like Google, Qualcomm had no choice but to sever business ties with the company.

This also meant that Huawei’s new products such as the Mate 30 Pro wouldn’t be able to receive Google’s propriety tech, which includes the Google Play Store and the search giant’s suite of productivity apps, that many of us depend on to accomplish our daily tasks. That said, there are methods to circumvent this problem, which includes side-loading the necessary apps.

The US ban has cast a cloud of uncertainty over Huawei’s future and how it will affect the Chinese smartphone maker’s future product line, especially since Google won’t be actively involved in it. Some restrictions have been lifted in the past month, but not enough. We shall have to wait and see how this fiasco pans out as we approach the end of 2019.

Source: Reuters