US President Donald Trump has relaxed his ban on Huawei somewhat, but the Chinese corporation says that Trump’s new US policy change doesn’t really benefit Huawei one way or the other.
That’s the word from the Financial Times, where Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei says that Trump’s new order doesn’t affect Huawei much. “President Trump’s statements are good for American companies. Huawei is also willing to continue to buy products from American companies. But we don’t see much impact on what we are currently doing. We will still focus on doing our own job right,” Zhengfei told Financial Times.
This comes just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump met for trade negotiations at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Ren Zhengfei’s comments tell us that Huawei doesn’t get much out of the new US policy change, but that’s not surprising. After all, Trump’s policy change was only made to benefit American tech companies.
That’s why Trump relaxed the Huawei ban to allow American tech companies to sell to Huawei. American tech companies making silicon chips and mobile components are the ones that were suffering; these are the companies now being allowed to sell.
But Trump’s new policy reversal doesn’t mean that Huawei can sell products to US companies or citizens. There’s been no word on Walmart and B&H Photo’s reversals in taking Huawei phones off their shelves. There’s been no word on Google’s reconsideration of Huawei as an Android OEM once again after the Android license revocation takes effect on August 19th.
There’s been no word on whether or not Huawei can make a new MateBook laptop and sell it to US customers, or whether or not Huawei’s globally popular Watch GT (not really a watch, but more of a fitness tracker) will still be able to sell in the US. There’s been no word on whether or not US companies can continue buying Huawei telecommunications equipment.
Well, we know the answer to that last statement: they can’t. Trump and the US still consider Huawei to be a national security risk, but allowing American tech companies to sell is Trump’s way of negotiating for the benefit of America.
Remember, his campaign has involved the financial prosperity of American companies. He isn’t so willing to let Huawei sell to American companies as he is willing to let them buy from American companies because American companies benefit.
And yet, Huawei’s statement seems to indicate that, even though it had been prohibited from buying from American companies, it had survived the ban just fine. “But we don’t see much impact on what we are currently doing.”
Prior to the ban relaxation, Huawei was forced to rely on Chinese chip makers instead of global powerhouses like Intel, Qualcomm, and others. “We are very confident in our ability to use components made in China and other countries,” Huawei CEO Zhengfei said, which means that Huawei doesn’t really need Qualcomm, Intel, and other US companies to churn a profit.
Zhengfei’s claim says that, contrary to American assumptions, Huawei has not suffered behind the lack of mobile components. Though it hasn’t been able to buy from Qualcomm, Intel, and Micron, among others, Huawei has still been doing business in China. China is Huawei’s home and a place where Huawei rose to fame in the smartphone market and overtook Apple to become second globally, only to Samsung.
But Huawei’s claim may be true, since it is a Chinese company and, as has surfaced in the last few weeks, the Chinese Government (per Nokia) has said that Huawei receives government incentives to stay in business. Its Chinese chipmakers have saved its business, so much so that the company just may have its Mate X foldable smartphone ready for launch soon.
And yet, its largest loss has come from losing access to Google’s Android. Yes, current Huawei smartphones running Android will get access to Android Q, but new smartphones coming out later this year will not (after August 19th passes). This means that Huawei has spent more time on crafting its Hongmeng OS than it has spent in dilemma over mobile components.
In the end, though, Huawei foresaw the US ban on its products, so much so that its Hongmeng OS has been in the works for seven years. The company knows the importance of being self-sufficient, so whether or not American companies sell to Huawei isn’t as big a deal.
Huawei makes its own Kirin processors, but the ban relaxation may just allow it to continue making them — if British entity ARM chooses to continue doing business with Huawei. Only time will tell how self-sufficient Huawei is in crafting its own mobile experience. The company’s Hongmeng OS is due out sometime this September or October.