ARM Next In Line To Cut Ties With Huawei; Potentially Fatal Cutting Of Huawei's Arm

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ARM Next In Line To Cut Ties With Huawei; Potentially Fatal Cutting Of Huawei’s Arm

U.K based tech firm ARM, reportedly told its staff to halt business deals and contracts with Huawei. This was reported by the BBC, citing internal memos as the source of information.

The chip maker has apparently told employees to pause “all active contracts, support entitlements, and any pending engagements,” with Huawei and its subsidiaries in compliance with the recent U.S. trade sanctions.

Arm’s staff were also told they were not permitted to “engage in technical discussions, or otherwise discuss technical matters with Huawei, HiSilicon or any of the other named entities.” Arm believes it is affected by the restrictions the U.S. government has placed on Huawei as its designs contain “U.S. origin technology.”

ARM is the tech firm who helps design Huawei’s chipsets, the Kirin, along with most other chipsets used worldwide. Huawei aren’t the only ones to be cut off, as business with sister companies such as HONOR also halt. Therefore, this to some, are looking like a almost fatal blow to Huawei’s operations. ARM’s withdrawal could devastate the Chinese tech company as almost all chip-sets around the world contain ARM’s tech. This also includes Huawei’s Kirin 980 SoC.

Huawei did reach out to the Verge via a spokesperson to tell their side of the tale;

“We value our close relationships with our partners, but recognize the pressure some of them are under, as a result of politically motivated decisions,” said the spokesperson. “We are confident this regrettable situation can be resolved and our priority remains to continue to deliver world-class technology and products to our customers around the world.”

At least are acknowledging that companies aren’t cutting ties with them, on a whim. That there is external pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order and having to adhere to the government’s laws is the cause. While Huawei’s Founder and CEO Ren Zhengfai is confident that this ‘Ban’ isn’t going to hurt them as much as they think, it’s already pretty apparent that this is going to have some rather dire consequences.