After Google urged the United States government to ease the ban on Huawei, it’s now the turn of US-based chip makers. As per the reports, American chip suppliers, including Qualcomm and Intel, are quietly pressing the U.S. government to ease its ban on sales to the Chinese tech giant.
This is interesting given that Huawei itself is avoiding typical government lobbying, while several US-based companies are urging its government to ease the ban on Huawei which bars US companies to do business with Huawei.
A report, which cites a person aware of the develop, suggests that executives from top U.S. chipmakers Intel and Xilinx Inc attended a meeting in late May with the Commerce Department to discuss a response to Huawei’s placement on the blacklist. Apart from them, Qualcomm has also pressed the Commerce Department over the issue.
They are arguing that Huawei units selling products such as smartphones and computer servers use commonly available parts and are unlikely to present the same security concerns as the Chinese technology firm’s 5G networking gear.
One of the people aware of this development said that “this isn’t about helping Huawei. It’s about preventing harm to American companies.” Huawei spent about $70 billion in 2018 to buy components out of which about $11 billion went to U.S. firms including Qualcomm, Intel, and Micron Technology Inc.
Trade group Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has acknowledged that it arranged consultations with the U.S. government on behalf of the companies to help them comply and brief officials on the impact of the ban on the companies.
As said, the Chinese giant itself has done very little traditional lobbying in Washington on the matter, but people aware of the matter says that it has considered sending a letter to the Commerce Department. Even after a month from being blacklisted, Huawei has not spoken to the United States government about the matter so far.
(Source)
