Google, Intel, Qualcomm, other US tech firms sever ties with Huawei, major setback to its 5G ambitions

Washington / Beijing – Given President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency and the decision to blacklist Chinese companies, all the leading technology companies in the United States including Google and Intel, have announced severing off their ties with the Chinese telecom company, Huawei.

It comes as a significant jolt to the 5G ambitions of Huawei, considered to be a top company in the internet and communications sectors. With the US companies cutting off Huawei despite the Chinese Foreign Minister’s warning, the trade war between the United States and China shows signs of intensifying further.

Last Wednesday, US President Trump had declared a national emergency against the telecom companies of foreign adversaries. In the announcement, he alleged that the United States adversaries were exploiting the weak links in the information technology sectors for espionage and launching cyber attacks for obtaining sensitive information from the economic and industrial sectors. Following the declaration of the emergency, the US Department of Commerce announced a trade blacklist which included Huawei and 70 other Chinese companies.

Previously, Trump had issued orders to prohibit the participation of Chinese companies even in the bidding on the US government contracts. The attempts of the Chinese companies to acquire US technology companies were also foiled. Moreover, one of China’s top telecom companies, ‘China Mobile’ was barred from providing services in the United States, while China’s ZTE was fined for billions of dollars.

After the successive punitive actions against the Chinese companies as also the trade blacklist, top US technology companies have now complied with Trump’s orders. The leading internet giant, Google has stated that Huawei would not be allowed to use apps such as Google Maps and YouTube, as well as its operating system in Huawei smartphones. More than 80% of the smartphones in the world use Google’s Android operating system as well as apps. Google’s decision is thus a severe shock to Huawei’s 5G ambitions.

Along with Google, other US technology companies also have severed their ties with Huawei. They include the leading manufacturing companies such as Intel, Qualcomm and Broadcom that supply semiconductor chips for smartphones, laptops and tabs. The companies have refused to supply chipsets to Huawei, which could affect the future 5G handset manufacturing of the company. However, Huawei had disclosed to have taken adequate precautions to tackle such an eventuality.

Meanwhile, severe reactions to the announcements of the US companies are being seen on the Chinese mainstream media as well as social media. A movement called ‘Boycott Apple’ for banning products of the leading US company is fast gaining ground and shows signs of delivering a significant impact to Apple.

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