The US is allowing a growing number of chip companies to supply Huawei with components as long as these are not used for its 5G business, reported the Financial Times.
The US Department of Commerce “has been telling companies in recent conversations that while licenses to supply Huawei are handled with a view to denial, this can be overcome if you can demonstrate that your technology does not support 5G”, said a semiconductor executive involved in dialogue with the department, referring to the cutting-edge telecoms infrastructure, said the FT.
Executives at two Asian semiconductor companies said they were optimistic that their applications for licenses to resume shipments to Huawei would be approved. “It has been indicated to us that chips for mobile devices are not a problem,” said one of them.
“We believe this is a strong indication the US intends to allow Huawei to stay in the handset business, since, as we have argued, it does not present an obvious national security threat to the US,” wrote Edison Lee, an analyst at Jefferies, in a research note.