The past few days haven’t been the best of time for Huawei. President Trump last week signed an order that put Huawei on the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity list. That list effectively prohibits U.S. firms from selling parts and components to Huawei without obtaining a government license.
Google was first to pull the trigger and later followed by other chips makers in the States who earlier yesterday halted supplies to the Chinese firm so as to remain in the good book of the Commerce Department. Hours after the news broke, we have now learned that the embattled firm has been granted a temporary license to continue pushing Android updates through mid-August, whether it sought for it or not remains unclear to us.
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The license does not grant Huawei the go-ahead to buy parts from US firms to manufacture new products, rather, the license which is expected to expire on August 19 only empowers the Chinese firm to transact with USA based firms with limitations. It empowers Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to purchase American-made goods in order to maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets. The license will enable it to service customers in regions such as Wyoming and Oregon which run on equipment purchased from Huawei.
Wilbur Ross of the Commerce Department yesterday in a statement said the time frame will give operators ample time to make alternative arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services.
So essentially Huawei smartphones users need to fret at this point, as their existing devices will continue to receive all needed Android supports till August 19. If however, both sides are unable to reach a compromise, then Google, Intel, and others will have no choice than to totally withdraw their services and supply to the Chinese firm.