Huawei phones need processors - can Qualcomm help?
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesHuawei seems to have won something of a reprieve in its ongoing trade issues with the U.S. government, with the help of U.S. chip maker Qualcomm.
According to a report in Reuters, Qualcomm has received a license to sell mobile phone chips to Huawei, which is an exemption from the current situation.
This is good news on one level: the continued issues between the U.S. and China have meant that companies like Taiwanese chip maker TSMC have been prevented from selling chips to Huawei. Since September, TSMC’s production of the lightning-fast Kirin 9000 chip has been suspended. Since that’s the processor in the latest flagship phone, the Mate 40 Pro and its siblings, this meant that a stockpile of Kirin 9000 chips is all Huawei has and when they’re gone, it won’t be able to get any more. It’s thought that early 2021 may be crunch time, when the Kirin chips have run out.
So, this is great news about Qualcomm, right?
Well, it’s good, but perhaps not great.
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You see, the exemption refers to 4G products only, it seems. “We received a license for a number of products, which includes some 4G products,” a Qualcomm spokesperson explained.
That doesn’t mean this development is without value, but it may not be a life-saver. Huawei has a wide range of phones and plenty of them are not 5G-capable, so being able to put Qualcomm chips in those is very useful. Qualcomm has supplied Huawei with chips for its lower-priced phones in the past, so it may be that’s where these chips are destined to be used, as well.
Does this mean there won’t be any chips for Huawei’s 5G phones from Qualcomm? According to analysts, this is still unclear – so maybe the company does have room to hope that Qualcomm could supply 5G chips as well at a later date.
The fact that such an exemption has been made could pave the way to further licenses later, which could indeed be a game-changer for Huawei.
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The Link LonkNovember 17, 2020 at 06:00AM
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