Huawei’s battle against the United States related to the trade ban isn’t coming to an end. However, the company seems to have got a temporary reprieve as a proposal of the U.S. to further restrict sales to Huawei Technologies has encountered objections within the Trump administration and is being held.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday that new rules were in development that would further limit U.S. companies from supplying Huawei. However, the rules are being opposed by the U.S. Defense Department.

The blocking of the restrictions on Huawei comes at the U.S. Defense Department shares the same concerns that Qualcomm and other U.S. suppliers have been telling the White House that blocking trade with Huawei will cut off revenue that could be used for further product research.

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The new rules will make it harder for American companies to sell to Huawei from their overseas facilities. Some US-based firms have been selling to Huawei even after the ban, taking advantage of the exemptions if most work to create the products happens outside the United States. The current threshold permitting sales kicks in when 75 percent of the work occurs overseas but the administration is now debating raising this to 90 percent.

Huawei, which the world’s largest telecoms equipment supplier, is one of the biggest purchasers of chips. Semiconductor makers in the U.S. have argued that a complete clampdown is counterproductive since the parts that Huawei needs can be bought from non-US providers.

Amid all this, the Chinese giant is continuing its efforts to reduce its dependency on US-based technology. The company has already unveiled its completely new operating system named HarmonyOS and is working on HMS as a replacement for Google services.

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The U.S. Ambassador to Germany called comments by officials in Berlin who compared the threat of U.S. and Chinese espionage an “insult” to American troops stationed in the country. This is the latest in a slew of issues that have emerged as the result of Huawei’s involvement in the development of Germay’s 5G networks.

This comes as a result of German Minister Peter Altmaier, one of Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel’s few allies on her 5G approach, comparing concerns over potential spying by the Chinese government to previous phone-tapping by the “unreliable” US government.

Over the weekend, Altmaier commented on concerns that Huawei would be subject to China’s laws that could require the company to hand over data from its communications networks to Chinese intelligence agencies. “The US also requires its companies to provide certain information needed to fight terrorism,” he said.

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The volley by U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist who has stoked trans-Atlantic tensions with pointed comments on German-U.S. divisions, is likely to compound controversy over the participation of China’s Huawei Technologies Co. in Germany’s fifth-generation mobile technology.

Considering Altmaier’s statement, Grenell could now declare a victory of sorts. And yet, Grenell’s meddling could actually achieve the opposite of its desired effect, namely mistrust and opposition. The US is increasingly wielding its market power not only against its opponents, but against its friends as well.

Merkel has been fending off pressure from the United States, her own party and the German parliament to ban Huawei as a candidate to for building Germany’s 5G infrastructure. The German government is concerned that banning Huawei could result in retribution from the Chinese government against the lucrative German car industry.

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Will you be surprised if I told you that Huawei filed the most number of international patent applications in 2018? It filed 5,405 patent applications last year which was twice as many as Mitsubishi Electric and Intel, which ranked second and third in the list. However, this doesn’ tell you the whole story, or at least that’s what Patent Result, a Tokyo-based research company, believes.

According to the quality analysis of the patents filed by the top applicants in 2018, Huawei’s patent applications were not exactly innovative. According to Patent Result’s analysis, only 21% of the patents filed by Huawei can be classified as ‘highly innovative’. In comparison, Intel and Qualcomm which are ranked third and fourth in the list had 32% and 44% ‘highly innovative’ patents under their name, respectively.

What’s even more interesting is that the contribution of North American talent in filing these high-quality patents is pretty high. Patent Result found that out of the 30 best Huawei engineers, 17 of those engineers were recruited from foreign companies, the majority from North American ones. So, their research reveals that the talents poached from companies like Motorola and other IT giants (note that Moto, under Lenovo, is now a Chinese company) is driving Huawei’s R&D.

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Another important point highlighted by their research is Huawei’s aggressive patent buying spree. The telecommunications giant has reportedly purchased around 500 patents from foreign companies, out of which 250 were from U.S. companies. These purchases have a significant impact on the company’s patent portfolio since they account for nearly 67% of its ‘high quality’ patents. The report adds that IBM and Yahoo both sold a large number of patents to Huawei, 40 and 37 respectively.

To recall, back in July, U.S. Senators had introduced a bill to block Huawei from buying or selling US patents. Given how foreign patents form an important part of the company’s patent portfolio, this move could be a blow to Huawei’s technological advancement. The bill essentially wants to block companies listed on its trade blacklist from buying, selling, or exclusively licensing U.S. patents. It would also give the government the authority to step in any domestic case relating to patent infringement.

Finally, it’s worth adding that tech companies are generally aggressive when it comes to strengthening their patent portfolio. Samsung was ranked second in the list of most number of U.S. patents granted in 2018. Apple took the eleventh spot while Huawei was at the nineteenth spot on the list.

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Broadcom’s bid to buy fellow chipmaker Qualcomm has dominated discussions in the industry for quite some time now. Qualcomm has rejected Broadcom’s offer but that has not deterred the tech giant. However, it looks like the bid has finally hit the rock. Slashgear reports that U.S President Donald Trump has blocked the planned takeover, citing national security concerns. 

We wouldn’t want to get caught up in U.S politics but this seems to bear the same colouring as the U.S president’s recent economic policies of putting the interest of American companies first. It played out recently in the increased tariffs on Steel and Aluminium imports and may be what is making the U.S authorities block Huawei’s bid to take on Apple on home turf by advising U.S citizens against buying Huawei’s smartphones under the guise of national security concerns. Broadcom is a foreign-owned firm and is presently based in Singapore although the company is planning a return of its headquarters to the U.S. In this case, though, Donald Trump might just be doing us all a whole lot of good by blocking such a massive takeover which would have been the biggest in the industry.

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According to the report, Trump’s order cites concerns that a Broadcom takeover of Qualcomm could “impair the national security of the United States.” The order further states that Broadcom and Qualcomm should immediately and permanently abandon the proposed takeover. Both firms are also required to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that such termination is effected.

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Huawei has always eyed an opportunity to gain a stronghold in the U.S but that move have always proved futile. A ray of light recently popped up in the dark in form of an agreement with U.S carrier AT&T to release Huawei smartphones in the U.S. But that hope was severely dashed when AT&T pulled out of the deal at the 11th hour, just when Huawei was about launching its latest Mate 10 flagships in the U.S via CES 2018. 

Huawei may have been dealt another blow, alongside fellow Chinese tech OEM ZTE as a report carried by TechCrunch claims that a bill has been proposed in the U.S Congress which seeks to ban all U.S agencies with contractors or service providers that use any equipment from either company for security reasons. Texas-based Republican house member Michael Conaway who is also leading the investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the U.S election sponsored the bill and it originated on January 9. Although the bill targets telecommunication equipment manufactured by both Huawei and ZTE, it could have a ripple effect on their smartphone business.

Huawei presently is the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world and the world’s largest telecom equipment manufacturer while ZTE is the fifth largest n the world. However, the bill proposes to completely outlaw engaging with third-party entities that use any of the following:

• Telecommunications equipment produced by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation (or any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities).
• Telecommunications services provided by such entities or using such equipment.
• Telecommunications equipment or services produced or provided by an entity that the head of the relevant agency reasonably believes to be an entity owned or controlled by, or otherwise connected to, the government of a covered foreign country.

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The bill makes reference to past admittance by Huawei of complicity in the handling of sensitive information with the  Chinese government. Huawei and ZTE are said to be  “directly subject to direction by the Chinese Communist Party.” Huawei has repeatedly denied these claims but the duo is yet to release any statement in regards to the proposed bill. The bill itself will have to scale several hurdles before it becomes a law but it may just be wise for Huawei to channel its energy to other markets outside the U.S.

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