Huawei faces heightened U.S. restrictions amid AI evolution fears

Previously imposed sanctions have heavily affected Chinese manufacturers, resulting in the latest Huawei Pura 70 series smartphones lacking Google services and not supporting 5G technology. However, new challenges loom on the horizon for the company from China to tackle.

Huawei has been denied chip supplies from Qualcomm and Intel. However, this information is not officially confirmed. The United States Department of Commerce has announced the withdrawal of some American licenses for cooperation with Huawei, although no specific list of companies was disclosed. On another note, Intel has informed investors about losing a major client from China without identifying it.

Additionally, Reuters, citing three independent sources, reports that Qualcomm and Intel's licenses have expired, leading to a prohibition on their supply of chips to Huawei.

U.S. sanctions against Huawei were initiated in 2019 and were selective initially. For instance, Google was entirely prevented from working with Huawei, causing a lack of access to the Play Store and other services on the brand’s smartphones. However, Microsoft is still authorized to supply Windows software to the Chinese giant. Qualcomm and Intel were permitted to supply chips but without 5G connectivity. Concurrently, Japan's Sony was prohibited from providing its photographic sensors to Huawei, as they partially rely on American patents. For the same reasons, MediaTek from Taiwan could not supply Huawei chips.

What led the Americans to decide to escalate sanctions? U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has attributed this to concerns over the development of artificial intelligence. She further highlighted that if it is discovered that a previously licensed chip has artificial intelligence capabilities, the license will be revoked immediately.

Reuters points out that the decision was made following Republican pressures, urging Joe Biden to adopt more assertive measures against Huawei. Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik claimed that such measures would bolster the United States' national security, safeguard American innovation, and curtail communist China's capacity to develop its technology.

The Chinese reaction was swift. In a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was expressed that China vehemently opposes the United States' excessive use of national security concepts and the abuse of export control to restrict the operations of Chinese companies unjustifiably.

It's noteworthy that Huawei has already achieved some level of independence from American suppliers, though not wholly. The new flagship smartphones from the Huawei Pura 70 series utilize Chinese Kirin chips. Nevertheless, mid-range Huawei Nova 12 models equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon chips were launched in the British market in April. The latest MateBook X Pro laptop comes fitted with an Intel chipset.

Huawei has not commented on the prohibition on cooperating with Qualcomm and Intel.