U.S introduces tighter chipset restrictions on Huawei

The Huawei Nova 7 SE.

Huawei is going to have a tough time sourcing for mobile chipsets in the near future.

The U.S Commerce Department announced an amendment to the May export rule that bans Huawei from buying alternative mobile chipsets that are "developed or produced from U.S software or technology to the same degree as comparable U.S chips".

The amendment comes after the U.S government found out that Huawei and its foreign affiliates tried to "circumvent" the trade restrictions by working with third parties to obtain U.S technology "in a manner that undermines U.S national security and foreign policy interests".

In addition, the Commerce Department added 38 new Huawei affiliates across 21 countries to the Entity List as they pose a major risk of acting on Huawei's behalf to harm U.S interests. It also reiterated that the temporary general license has now expired.

Huawei reportedly approached two Asian chip suppliers, MediaTek and UNISOC to secure more chipsets after the U.S blocked its access to overseas chips "that are the direct product of certain U.S software and technology". TSMC also stopped taking new chip orders from Huawei to comply with the U.S trade restrictions. Earlier this month, Huawei confirmed that it cannot manufacture Kirin processors beyond 15 September and its existing stocks of processors can only last for the launch of its next flagship phone.

Source: commerce.gov via Android Authority