The US has tightened restrictions on Huawei. The new restrictions are making it even more difficult for the Chinese phone manufacturing company to get chips for its devices, reports The Verge.
The new restriction banned suppliers from selling chips made using US technology to Huawei without a special license. According to Reuters, who first reported on the new restrictions, the US Commerce Department “will also add 38 Huawei affiliates in 21 countries to the U.S. government’s economic blacklist”.
The new sanctions close any loopholes in the so-called “game-changing” announcement that came in May and prompted the UK to exile Huawei from its 5G enterprise.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said: “As we have restricted its access to US technology, Huawei and its affiliates have worked through third parties to harness US technology in a manner that undermines US national security and foreign policy interests”.
In May last year, the US made it illegal for firms to sell American technology to Huawei without government permission. This blocked US companies like Google from engaging in business with the company meaning that it was unable to get an Android license and host Google apps on its devices. Following this, in May this year, the US Commerce Department issued another rule which prevented foreign manufacturers using US technology and software from selling to Huawei without a license.
The newest restrictions are just another chapter in the faltering Sino-US relations and increasing paranoia that Chinese tech companies are (or might) feed information about American customers back to the Chinese Communist Party, despite Huawei adamantly denying any allegations of spying.
According to The Verge, the sanctions have caused Huawei to run out of processor chips and as of September, the company will no longer be able to make its own Kirin chipsets “due to the ongoing economic pressure”.
