Huawei Stopped From Getting Export Licenses By The US: Report

The US has stopped approving licenses for its companies to export most items to Chinese tech giant Huawei.

The US has stopped approving licenses for its companies to export most items to Chinese tech giant Huawei, says a report by news agency Reuters, citing three people familiar with the matter. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, China opposes the US abusing an overly broad notion of national security to suppress Chinese firms unreasonably, the report added.

Earlier in 2020, chip-making major Qualcomm got permission to sell 4G smartphone chipsets to Huawei.

According to a Commerce Department spokesperson quoted by Reuters, officials "continually assess our policies and regulations" but do not comment on talks with specific companies. 

It should be noted that last month, Samsung was reported to have licensed 5G technology from Chinese tech behemoth Huawei, which was forced to launch its smartphones with its proprietary HarmonyOS operating system after it was banned from accessing the US supply chain due to sanctions imposed on it. Oppo, another Chinese handset maker also licensed key technologies from Huawei. 

Huawei Technologies has licensed key technologies to smartphone rival Oppo in a win for the Chinese tech champion as it attempts to resist a US crackdown on its tech ambitions. The patent licensing deal with Oppo -- the world's fourth-biggest smartphone maker by shipments -- is Huawei's largest ever with a Chinese company and covers areas including 5G and Wi-Fi, as well as audio and video technologies, Nikkei Asia had reported last month.

Huawei was also forced to innovate and develop in-house HarmonyOS, which is now in its third generation and the Huawei Mobile Services platform after the US imposed sanctions on the company citing security reasons.

According to Huawei, it has patent cross-licensing deals with 20 firms, which includes both domestic and foreign companies. South Korean tech giant Samsung is Huawei's biggest licensee among foreign firms in terms of the number of devices sold and the patents covered, while Oppo, another Chinese major is the most significant domestic company by the same measures.