Huawei could soon be the target of new U.S. sanctions. This time, it would be a question of simply preventing Huawei from supplying SoC, chipsets and other chips. The new sanctions package was specifically designed to end the relationship between the manufacturer and the TSMC smelter.
A Huawei Mate X / Credits: Phonandroid
The "Sanctions" button in Donald Trump's office is decidedly itchy for the US president. Especially when it comes to penalizing the Chinese firm that has become its nemesis: Huawei. It has been known for some time that the US administration is preparing a new package of sanctions. Among the proposals, the United States could force the firm to stop buying U.S. components and services when they include more than 10% of U.S. intellectual property.
But according to Android Authority, a new idea, even more binding for Huawei, is under discussion. It would now force smelters using U.S. equipment to obtain a license from the U.S. government to have the right to use those equipment. Washington could therefore dictate the conditions for granting this licence, and withdraw it in the event of non-compliance.
The exact terms of this possible future license are not known but one thing is already certain: it will imply that Huawei will no longer be able to supply itself with these founders. However, most of them use U.S. equipment for key parts of their manufacturing process. This is also the case for TSMC, the Taiwanese smelter, which, in addition to the chips of iPhones, GPU Nvidia and AMD processors, also supplies Huawei.
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According to Everbright Securities, such a measure would therefore be a true crucifixion for the manufacturer's mobile business. "There is no production unit in China that uses only equipment made in China, so it is very difficult to manufacture any chipset without American equipment,"Everbright analysts note.
Source: Android Authority