ZURICH (SWITZERLAND) – Chinese telecom giant Huawei is finding it harder to face US sanctions designed to cut off its access to semiconductors. However, it can continue to serve European 5G network clients, a senior European executive told an Austrian newspaper.
Abraham Liu, Huwaei’s vice-president for Europe, told the Kurier paper, “Since the US sanctions last year, US manufacturers of semiconductors are no longer allowed to supply us so our previous US partners can no longer work with us. Since August it has become even more difficult.”
He said Washington was “blackmailing” chipmakers for cutting off ties with Huawei, refuting allegations from the US that Huawei equipment could be used by Beijing for spying.
“Nevertheless, we are confident that we can continue to serve our European customers in the 5G sector because of many preparations and upfront investments with the most advanced technology,” Liu was quoted as saying without elaborating.
He said, “As for private customers, cell phone owners, we see great difficulties. There are 90 million European Huawei users. Google is no longer allowed to work with Huawei, so Google will no longer publish updates for Huawei smartphones with the Android operating system. We are still looking for a solution.”