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Inside China Tech: US sanctions leave Huawei all shook up

  • New measures by the Trump administration make it tougher for Huawei to acquire semiconductors produced with US technology
  • While expressing anger at the US government’s move, Beijing has not announced any measures to retaliate

Reading Time:3 minutes
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With avenues for sourcing critical chips to power its 5G base stations, smartphones and cloud computing business shut off, Huawei Technologies has very few options left, analysts say. Photo: AP

Hello, This is Bien Perez from the South China Morning Post’s Technology desk, with a wrap of our leading stories this week.

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The Trump administration has put the brakes on Huawei Technologies’ expansion plans by making it tougher for the world’s largest telecommunications equipment vendor to acquire chips made with US technology.
New rules issued by the US Commerce Department on Monday prohibit Huawei from bypassing earlier sanctions by sourcing products via third-party suppliers. It essentially blocks the company’s ability to buy semiconductors, developed or produced using US technology, from anywhere.

With Huawei’s avenues for sourcing critical chips to power its 5G base stations, smartphones and cloud computing business shut off, analysts said China’s biggest tech company has very few options left.

“All the power of one company cannot build the entire industrial chain by itself,” said Yang Guang, director of service provider research at Strategy Analytics. “It is impossible.”

02:27

UK bans Huawei from 5G network after US sanctions

UK bans Huawei from 5G network after US sanctions
The latest measures intensify the Trump administration’s crackdown on major Chinese tech firms over national security concerns. Washington put Huawei on the US trade blacklist in May last year.
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