Because Huawei’s chip giants put pressure on the US government

On June 18, the British media said that informed sources said that Huawei's US chip suppliers, including Qualcomm and Intel, are quietly pressured the US government to relax the sales ban against Huawei.

According to a Reuters report on June 16, a source said that Intel and Xilinx executives attended a meeting with the US Department of Commerce at the end of May to discuss the blacklist response. On the grounds of national security, the United States prohibits US suppliers from supplying to Huawei without special permission. Four sources said that Qualcomm also strongly urged the Ministry of Commerce on this issue.

According to three sources, chip makers believe that Huawei's sales of smartphones and computer servers use common components and are unlikely to pose the same security issues as Huawei's 5G network devices.

“This is done to prevent damage to US companies,” one of them said.

According to Reuters, Huawei spent $70 billion (US$1, about 6.9 yuan) on parts and components in 2018, of which about $11 billion went to US companies, including Qualcomm, Intel and Micron.

According to a person familiar with Qualcomm, Qualcomm hopes to continue to provide Huawei with chips for ordinary devices such as mobile phones and smart watches.

The American Semiconductor Industry Association acknowledged that it has arranged consultations with the US government on behalf of chip makers to help them comply with the ban and to brief officials on the impact of the ban on these companies.

"For technologies that do not involve national security, they do not seem to fall within the scope of the ban. We have already expressed this view to the government," said Jimmy Goodrich, vice president of global policy at the Semiconductor Industry Association.

Broadcom expects that Sino-US trade tensions and Huawei bans will reduce the company's revenue by $2 billion this year, which caused an uproar in the global chip industry.