Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies holds sufficient stock of chips for the company’s smartphone and network equipment businesses to overcome supply chain obstacles raised by U.S. sanctions, rotating chairman Guo Ping said during a media rountable at Huawei Connect event in Shanghai, China.
The executive noted that stocks are also enough for the vendor’s 5G network equipment.
Guo added that the company is in process to evaluate its options for future supply of chips.
“The U.S. sanctions not only restrict Huawei and restrict non-US companies from supplying Huawei, they also have a great impact on the sales of U.S. companies’ chips. We hope the U.S. will reconsider its decision, and, if it is willing to provide chips, we will continue to purchase and use chips with U.S. technology,” Guo said.
In his presentation, Guo said continuous U.S. attacks on the company had raised “great challenges to our production and operations”, and that survival is the goal” in the near term.
Guo also said that the vendor is looking for ways to address future supply, noting it understands some U.S. chipmakers are applying for licenses with the U.S. government to continue supplying Huawei.
U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) and Intel have reportedly obtained licenses from the US government to supply chips to Huawei after September 15, which was the deadline set by the U.S. government to cut off crucial chipset supplies to the Chinese company.
The executive also said that Huawei is also willing to use Qualcomm chips to produce mobile phones if it gets the license.
Despite the continued pressures from the U.S government, Guo said he expects the company’s business fundamentals to remain stable for some time and noted that the company is not planning company-wide staff cuts.
“Huawei will continue to attract talent, since the key to solving Huawei’s problems is talent. Turning sand into chips also depends on talent,” the executive said.
Huawei was added to the Entity List in May 2019, after the Department of Commerce concluded that the vendor was engaged in activities that were contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests, something that has always been denied by the Chinese company. In May of this year, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce announced plans to restrict Huawei’s ability to use U.S. chipmaking equipment and software to design and manufacture its semiconductors abroad.
Under the new regulation, companies using U.S. chipmaking technology — including foreign chipmakers, will be required to obtain a license before supplying components to Huawei.
