The US Commerce Department has issued a change in its ban against Huawei. Having listed the Shenzhen based company on an entity list last year, and renewing its presence earlier in May, Huawei’s access to US Semi-conductor chips necessary in 5G development was run short.
With respect to the 5G race, which the US reportedly had direct intentions in-to, the commerce department has issued new changes on the ban of Huawei from operating in the United States and dealing with in-country companies.
This action is meant to ensure Huawei’s placement on the Entity List in May 2019 does not prevent American companies from contributing to important standards-developing activities despite Huawei’s pervasive participation in standards-development organizations. – The Department Notice read
As per the department’s notice, softening of limitations targeted to Huawei is not in opposition of the Government’s thoughts towards the company, But an attempt to smoothen the development of 5G standards that depend on a robust supply chain.
Hence, Huawei being a global leader in 5G development, its continuous ban not only affects 5G standards, but the chips supply chain too. So, the new changes are crafted to allow Huawei and the US to play a role in hashing out parameters for next-generation wireless technology as the department secretary inked:
The United States will not cede leadership in global innovation. This action recognizes the importance of harnessing American ingenuity to advance and protect our economic and national security”
Wilbur Ross – Secretary US Commerce Dept
The new change allows companies to share information about technologies in order to develop joint standards without requiring an export license. This means, companies will be able to collaborate with Huawei for technological development, which has not been the case, for the time it has been active on the entity list.
With Huawei Smartphones already affected by the absence of Google Management Services (GMS) due to the previous rule, Google and other US-based companies may soon re-enable collaboration with Huawei.
However, the Commerce Department has not confirmed whether the softened changes are only tied to 5G development or general company collaboration with the Chinese based company, but 2020 developments will affirm the blend of these new changes.