The internet became hysterical over the weekend when it was
reported that Google was cutting ties with Huawei thanks to new government
regulations. After a day of speculating about the company’s future, the
Department of Commerce has given Huawei a temporary license to maintain its
current products (via Reuters).
Huawei’s limited license is only in effect through August
19, 2019. The permit allows the company to work with U.S. corporations to
support current customers. The Shenzhen-based company will be able to maintain
business relationships with Google, Intel, Qualcomm, and others to release
software updates to existing hardware.
This 90-day general license is also good news for some smaller
regional networks that rely on Huawei’s infrastructure. Two regions that were
already affected by the company’s ban were rural areas of Wyoming and Oregon.
The limited license does not mean that all is well between
Huawei and the U.S. government. The temporary license only allows the Chinese
company to maintain devices that are already on the market. This means that
while Huawei can still release security fixes to its electronics, the company
will be unable to release new hardware that relies on technology sold or
licensed by U.S. companies such as Android.
If the relationship between Huawei and the U.S. doesn’t
change, the Entity List’s restrictions will go back into full effect. The
company can use these three months to finish building its custom operating
systems and roll out the new firmware to current devices. Hopefully, this last
case scenario doesn’t need to take place.
