Chip designer ARM pulls business from Huawei following U.S. ban

ARM, a chip designer, has announced it is suspending business with Huawei, according to an internal memo.

The May 18th memo to all ARM employees read that “all active contracts, support entitlements, and any pending engagements,” must be put to a halt after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans the company from working with any U.S. companies.

According to a BBC report, the memo said many of the chips contain “U.S. origin technology,” and as a result is affected by the ban. It’s important to note that ARM is based out of the U.K. but has eight offices in the U.S.

ARM said in a statement to the BBC that it was “complying with all of the latest regulations set forth by the U.S. government.”

Chris Pereira, director of public affairs at Huawei Canada, said in a statement to MobileSyrup that the company valued its relationships with all of its partners “but recognize the pressure some of them are under, as a result of politically motivated decisions.”

“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,” Pereira said.

It’s important to note that ARM doesn’t manufacture chips or computer processors, but instead it licences its semiconductor technologies to other companies.

At times, ARM will licence out the architecture, or what is also known as an “instruction set,” which is like the foundation and handles some commands but gives chipmakers to customize and design their own chip version.

A good example of this is that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor featured in most major Android smartphones, including the Galaxy S10 and LG G8, uses ARM technology.

Source: BBC