More Huawei sanctions go into effect from today. What does that mean?

The U.S. government launched a series of additional sanctions against Huawei earlier this year, targeting the smartphone maker’s ability to manufacture phones and related components.

Some of these sanctions will take effect from September 15, 2020. What does this mean for Huawei and its customers?

No more flagship Kirin processors

The White House imposed stricter restrictions on Huawei in May 2020, forcing foreign chipmakers that make chips with US equipment to stop manufacturing and shipping for Huawei.

The Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC is one of these affected companies and is no longer allowed to manufacture and ship chipsets for Huawei as of today. The chipmaker reportedly stopped taking new orders for the Chinese brand soon after the restrictions were first announced in May. To date, however, it has apparently been allowed to fulfill orders already in production and received before the new restriction was announced.

At least one of the upcoming Mate 40 series phones will actually feature the new flagship Kirin processor. The supplies won’t last, however, so we don’t expect the P50 series to offer this new Kirin SoC if the Mate 40 series does well enough.

Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei Consumer, said last month that Kirin chipsets “will no longer be manufactured” after September 15th. He was presumably referring to the flagship and upper mid-range chipsets when China’s SMIC recently mass-produced the budget-oriented Kirin 710A processor using a 14nm process.

No more MediaTek support?

No flagship Kirin processor means Huawei will have to source chipsets from other companies as it is believed that local chipmakers do not yet have the know-how to make state-of-the-art flagship processors. One of the leading companies supplying flagship chipsets to Huawei was MediaTek, but it has also been sanctioned as of today.

Huawei had also increasingly used MediaTek chipsets in its mid-range devices that year, with several phones including the Dimensity 800 family. This could affect more than just Huawei’s flagship product.

Connected: MediaTek Chip Guide – Everything You Need to Know About MediaTek Processors

MediaTek confirmed late last month that it would comply with recent U.S. sanctions, noting that it has applied for a license to continue doing business with Huawei.

Companies like Microsoft have previously secured a license in this regard, which is why Huawei’s Matebook line can offer Windows. However, at the time of writing, other companies like Google and Qualcomm haven’t received the green light from Washington.

Display accessories from LG and Samsung

Another victim of this escalating action against Huawei is the delivery of displays from LG and Samsung. According to reports, the two companies have decided to stop supplying Huawei with “premium” displays until today.

Huawei has used displays from LG, Samsung and China’s BOE for its high-end requirements, so that apparently only one well-known supplier remains. However, Huawei is believed to be testing screens from domestic companies such as CSOT, Tianma, and Visionox. In other words, there are definitely alternative suppliers here.

Displays also require special chips to power them and activate touch (in addition to the SoC). A report released last week indicates that Huawei may have trouble getting these particular touch and display chips, as well as power management chips. Yet, DigiTimes reported last month that Huawei and SMIC have teamed up to develop some display chips.

The storage supply can be restricted

Storage providers Samsung and SK Hynix stopped trading with Huawei earlier this month, in line with recent sanctions that go into effect today. The two companies supply RAM for smartphones and tablets.

With that, the two companies have reportedly applied for licenses to continue supplying these components to Huawei. Again, some companies have managed to obtain these licenses, while others have not received any approval over a year later.

There are other companies that provide RAM for mobile devices, but it’s unclear whether they are sanctioned as well.

That’s it for our rundown of the latest US sanctions against Huawei. Did we miss something? Please let us know using the comments section below.