US limits supply of chips to Huawei, China threatens to take measures against Apple

The US government on Friday extended its export-restricting measures against Huawei to include chip designs made with US software and technology. China threatens to put US companies on a ‘dodgy list’.

The extension of the measures limits Huawei’s ability to obtain or make chips that use American software or technology. This also applies to subsidiaries such as HiSilicon, which bases the designs for its Kirin socs for smartphones on the Arm architecture. The measure is also a no-brainer for TSMC, which produces chips for Huawei. The US measure will take effect in 120 days. After that period, the chips concerned may only be supplied to Huawei after obtaining a license from the US Department of Trade.

At the same time, the US once again extended the license period for US companies to still use Huawei equipment and do business with the Chinese company. This mainly concerns network companies that have a temporary license for this. The extension will run until August 13 and should allow US companies to switch to alternatives. Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump extended the decree banning US telecom companies from using Huawei and ZTE network equipment by one year.

Now that the US government is increasing pressure on Huawei, the language from China also sounds more threatening. The Chinese government announced via the Global Times that it has countermeasures in place, including placing American companies on a ‘doubtfulness list’ and imposing restrictions on American companies. The Global Times also mentions Apple, Qualcomm and Cisco by name.

Most of the companies on China’s list would be small American companies that depend on Chinese companies, the report said. The countermeasures could be a “first warning to the US.” China also threatens to halt orders for Boeing aircraft.