Huawei was restricted to manufacture its chips in the U.S. as a result of the government's order. Moreover, a temporary general license that offered a reprieve for Huawei customers has also expired and won't be extended. This is making it more difficult for Huawei devices to receive Android updates from Google.
The U.S. Commerce Department has enacted a limited permanent authorization for Huawei entities that will allow for "security research critical to maintaining the integrity and reliability of existing and currently fully operational networks and equipment”.
The temporary license covered several rural telecommunication companies that will now have to apply for licenses for previously authorized transactions.
Commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, said in a statement that Huawei and its affiliates have worked through third parties to harness U.S. technology in a way that undermines national security and foreign policy interests.
Huawei along with its affiliates was placed on the Entity List by the Trump Administration in May of last year. As a result, U.S. firms required the government's approval before they could sell their technology to Huawei. The ban was later extended till 2021 by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify it. Companies including Google could not continue their business with Huawei and Google apps were kept off of Huawei devices.
This was followed by an amended export rule in May that restricted shipments of semiconductors to Huawei which were direct products of certain U.S. software and technology. Due to this, foreign manufacturers of semiconductors that were products of U.S. software and technology were not allowed to ship their products to Huawei unless they received a U.S. license for their operations.
Huawei said that it is running out of processor chips as a result of the U.S sanctions against the company and will not be able to manufacture any more of its Kirin chips.
