Huawei has been doing well for itself once again, releasing flagship phones powered by its in-house Kirin chipsets despite the US ban. As a result, the US not only launched investigations on Huawei’s source for these chips but is also considering cutting off the Chinese company’s chip supply chain.
According to sources available to Bloomberg, the Biden Administration is considering blacklisting four more chipmakers from China linked to the tech giant. Similar blacklisting in the past had barred Huawei from sourcing its components, hindering its business greatly.
The hardware companies that are under consideration for a blacklist include Qingdao Sien, SwaySure, Shenzhen Pensun Technology, and ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), which is one of the biggest memory chip makers in China.
There’s a possibility that all these companies could be included in the US Entity List, requiring American firms seeking to engage with them to obtain special permission. This means that the Chinese firms in question will no longer be able to acquire the necessary components from American companies to produce hardware for Huawei.
In addition to the chip manufacturers, sources suggest that two additional companies could face inclusion. These entities allegedly serve as intermediaries, assisting Huawei in acquiring restricted equipment for the production of 5G modems and related technologies.
Earlier reports indicated that the Chinese government is significantly bolstering Huawei’s investment efforts to establish itself as a formidable chip powerhouse capable of rivaling industry giants such as Intel and Qualcomm.
Remarkably, the Chinese firm successfully developed the Kirin 9000S chip utilizing its proprietary 7nm FinFET process within a span of three years, defying projections by some US experts, who had estimated a timeline of five years.
