According to the British press agency Reuters, the United States has reportedly revoked Huawei’s access to Intel and Qualcomm processors. If confirmed, this new measure would be dramatic for the Chinese giant, particularly in the PC sector, where the brand continued to evolve with some success.
We were in Dubai last week to follow the announcement of Huawei’s new products in spring 2024. Among the products unveiled by the brand, we found two new laptops: the very promising Huawei MateBook X Pro and its cousin, the MateBook 14 .
These two devices are equipped with OLED screens, but also and above all with the latest generation Intel “Meteor Lake” chips. They could nevertheless be the last from Huawei authorized to carry chips manufactured by the American giant.
Intel at Huawei… is it over?
In any case, this is what is reported Reuters. We have learned that the American authorities have simply revoked the exceptional licenses granted to Huawei to allow it to obtain Intel processors and Qualcomm chips, despite the sanctions which were otherwise imposed on it.
According to the press agency, this measure would have been taken with immediate effect, and companies would have been informed of it on Tuesday, May 7, the same day of Huawei’s conference in the United Arab Emirates. This is very bad news, which could seriously upset the brand’s strategy in the West, but which would also cause Intel and Qualcomm to lose a major customer.
New American sanctions
The launch of the MateBook Certain representatives of the Republican Party would have judged that the sale of latest generation Intel processors to Huawei was incompatible with the policy pursued against the brand for almost 7 years. This policy is marked by very strict sanctions taken against Huawei, first under the mandate of Donald Trump, then under the administration of Joe Biden.
This set of measures notably led to the banning of Huawei telecom devices in certain territories, but also to severely restricting the Chinese giant’s access to American technologies… both in terms of software and hardware.
If Huawei’s access to Intel’s processors is effectively revoked, we can imagine that the brand will seek to buy as many of these chips as possible while it still can, then significantly accelerate the development of its own HiSilicon processors. Kirin using the Chinese founder SMIC (supported by Beijing to replace TSMC as best it can). This decision would probably lead to a further withdrawal of Huawei into the Chinese market, but also into the Indian and Russian markets, among others. The West could see the firm becoming even more discreet in the future.
Source : Reuters
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