Huawei users who own older devices will not be eligible for future Android or Google updates, according to a new report from The Washington Post.
This comes after a reprive, which had allowed the Chinese company to trade with the US, expired. “The US granted Huawei a Temporary General License (TGL), to enable existing hardware and software to receive maintenance and security updates, to provide some time for these users to “wean themselves off” Huawei and to select alternatives.”
A Huawei spokesperson said the company is “monitoring the situation and assessing the potential impact.”
Is the US Trade Ban Limiting China’s Tech Dominance? Huawei Thinks So
US President, Donald Trump extended the national trade ban by another year – a move which a senior Huawei Technologies executive believes is “really designed to safeguard American dominance of global tech”.
Similarly, Head of Consumer Electronics at Huawei, Richard Yu says “The so-called cybersecurity reasons are merely an excuse. The key is the threat to the technology hegemony of the US”.
The order prohibits American companies from buying, selling or using any hardware from Chinese technology companies in fear that it will result in ‘cyber-exploitation’ by China. Already in 2019, President Trump claimed that Huawei is a threat to American national security.
The US President then went on to sign an executive order allowing his government to any block trade between the US and a foreign organisation deemed as a threat — i.e. Huawei. The order also means that Chinese companies do not have legal access to American technology – unless they have applied for a license.
According to Bloomberg, this move “tightens those restrictions to prevent chipmakers — American or foreign — from working with Huawei and its in-house chip-design unit HiSilicon on the cutting-edge semiconductors they need to make smartphones and communications equipment”.
“This could be one way the US is limiting China’s dominance over 5G networks” – further writing that “China and Huawei have threatened retaliation should the US enact further measures to constrain the country’s largest tech company”.
