Huawei's ambitions in the smartphone market have been seriously compromised, according to leaked information suggesting the chipmaker ARM is suspending all activities with the embattled Chinese supplier.
Last week, the US Department of Commerce banned US companies from dealing with Huawei, meaning the company's phones will no longer receive updates to Google's Android operating system or access to your applications. popular.
However, the impact of this order should be significant and could have even more disastrous consequences. The BBC obtained internal memos requiring ARM employees to stop working on all Huawei contracts and registrations to provide support.
Huawei Arm
ARM chips are used to power almost all major mobile chipsets, including Huawei's Qualcomm and Kirin processors. ARM is based in the United Kingdom and is owned by the Japanese company SoftBank, but many of its designs use technology made in the United States.
This led ARM to believe that working with Huawei would violate US trade regulations. The BBC also notes that this has an impact on ARM China, a joint venture that aims to make ARM technology and localized support available in the country. ARM has a 49% stake.
Huawei does not comment on this information, but an inability to use ARM technology in Huawei's Kirin processors would be extremely detrimental. Huawei had been preparing for some time to ban US technology, component storage and the development of an alternative operating system for Android, but the innovations made by ARM would be impossible to replace.
The upcoming Kirin 985 chip is not affected, but Huawei was unable to use ARM technology in future iterations.
Huawei has managed to build on its domestic successes by expanding into Western Europe in recent years through a series of critically acclaimed devices. It is the second largest manufacturer in the world, surpassing Apple recently, although it is excluded from the United States.
ARM has been contacted for comment.
Via bbc