US suppliers will get green light to resume sales to Huawei ‘very soon’, says Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
- Ross said the US government had received 206 requests from American firms wanting to sell to Huawei
Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecommunications equipment vendor currently on a US blacklist, will soon be able to resume purchasing American technology, according to US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg aired on Sunday, Ross said he expects licenses to allow US companies to sell to Huawei will come “very soon” and that the US government had received 206 requests – more than it had initially expected, according to Ross.
In mid-May Huawei and 68 affiliates were placed on a US trade blacklist that prevents them from using US technologies and software without approval. US companies were banned from selling to Huawei without special licenses.
Immediately following the US move, Huawei told its 190,000 staff and its global suppliers that the company has long prepared for the “doomsday” scenario and had contingency plans to “ensure the strategic safety of most of the company’s products and the continuous supply of most products”, according to an internal letter sent by the president of Huawei’s wholly owned semiconductor unit HiSilicon, Teresa He Tingbo.
In late September, Huawei said it has started making 5G base stations without US components and that total production of 5G base stations should more than double next year as the company had aimed to start scaling production since October. It also said it has secured more than 60 commercial 5G contracts globally.
“Without US components, we are able to continue to supply products to our customers and increase their trust. In fact, the US has advertised for us, and I don't think the US suppression has created obstructions for us,” Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s founder and chief executive said in an interview with Euronews in October.
