The USA gives the last blow to Huawei: also the licenses for 4G and Wi-Fi 6 are gone

The Joe Biden administration is preparing to approve a new squeeze against Huawei. Since 2019, the Chinese company, once the world leader in the smartphone market, has been included in the entity list, a blacklist of companies that cannot enter into commercial agreements with American companies without authorization from the Department of Commerce.

Due to the sanctions, Huawei was no longer able to equip its smartphones with 5G modems nor with the distribution of Android curated by Google. In short, a deadly blow that brought Huawei from the top to the bottom of the ranking of world smartphone manufacturers.

Until now, the Department of Commerce had authorized some American companies to supply Huawei with the components necessary to equip its smartphones with 4G and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity . Moreover, it is worth remembering that the US squeeze against Huawei has never been justified with protectionist claims, but with the thesis that the expansion of the Chinese giant in the field of infrastructure for the 5G network constituted an important risk for national security of the United States and its partners.

The White House had therefore maintained a balance between the need to neutralize Huawei’s push in the field of 5G and, at the same time, guarantee its survival (albeit crippled) in the smartphone and consumer electronics market. This balance looks set to break down very soon.

According to Reuters, which cites informed sources, the Biden administration is considering reviewing all the licenses granted to Huawei. The authorization given to Qualcomm to supply its processors to the Chinese company is in the crosshairs: they would be too advanced, although the agreements provide for 5G capabilities to be deactivated at the factory. In fact, the Chinese giant would also find itself cut off from LTE connectivity.

However, AMD processors are also at stake, as well as the Windows licenses sold by Microsoft. In short, this time Huawei could also be forced to withdraw from the laptop market. At that point, there would be practically nothing left of Huawei.