Qualcomm Granted Permission to Supply Huawei with 4G Smartphone Chips

Huawei’s smartphone business is anticipated to receive a life of breath after a recent license granted to Qualcomm by the US government. Qualcomm has been permitted to supply Huawei with “a number of products,” including 4G chips, the company said. 

“We received a license for a number of products, which includes some 4G products,” a Qualcomm spokesperson told Reuters.

For now, the company can’t supply Huawei with its 5G-enabled chipsets – which blocks Huawei smartphones from running Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 875 chip.

But in the meantime, the new license should ensure Huawei continues to produce high-end smartphones. The company had previously considered making its chips, but it would take some time before it starts making processors powerful enough to run modern-day smartphones.

Huawei’s smartphone sales plummeted in the third quarter, with the company dropping its April Quarter-long lead. From the 21% sales market share reported by Counterpoint at the end of April, Huawei’s lead was short-lived when Samsung’s smartphone sales rebounded strongly in Q3.

The Chinese tech company had to shut down its chipmaking arm, HiSilicon, in September, and the company was recently reported running short of Kirin chip supplies. The Qualcomm license will, therefore, prove beneficial to Huawei’s smartphone business.

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