US gives Huawei a 90 day breather to buy hardware, update software

The US government will give Chinese tech giant Huawei a breather, after it was placed on a trade ban late last week, and stripped of its Android license by Google. Chipmakers Intel, Qualcomm and Broadcom have reportedly ceased business with the company in light of the trade ban.

The company will be allowed to purchase American-made products — hardware and software — to “maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets” a report by Reuters revealed.

This includes its telecoms technology as well as software updates from Google for its Android devices.

It’s still banned from purchasing new parts and products for its future devices.

The move isn’t because the US government feels sorry for the Chinese firm, but rather allows for companies to make alternative arrangements before 19 August 2019 — 90 days from now.

The US government’s primary concern are those Huawei users in rural areas, as well as companies currently using Huawei’s telecoms infrastructure.

Huawei has promised existing users that the trade ban will not impact its rollout of updates for service centres across the world. It’s not clear what will happen to the company’s future phones and technologies that rely on US-made products.

Feature image: Huawei Mate 9, by Memeburn