U.S. government places additional restrictions on Huawei

The U.S. Commerce Department is posing additional restrictions on Huawei to limit the company’s access to commercially available chips.

The department has added 38 Huawei affiliates in 21 countries to its blacklist, which now totals 152 affiliates. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has stated that these additional restrictions will prevent the Chinese company from circumventing the law.

This new move is meant to ensure that American software can only be used through a license. It also aims to crack down on any “off-the-shelf” designs that Huawei may be looking to obtain from a third-party company.

Further, the department states that it is not going to extend a temporary general license that expires on August 14th for Huawei device users and telecommunications providers. The department says that this license was simply an opportunity for people to transition to alternatives.

These new developments come as Huawei recently stated that it’s running out of smartphone chips due to U.S. sanctions. Huawei says production of its Kirin chips will stop mid-September because they are created by contractors that require U.S. manufacturing technology.

Huawei is facing a tough year, as the U.K. recently banned the company from its 5G networks. It’s worth noting that the Canadian government has yet to decide whether Huawei will be allowed to take part in the deployment of 5G across the country.

Source: Reuters