Huawei has gone public to say that the ban imposed on them by the Trump Administration, will eventually hurt more Americans than the company itself. Chief Security Officer of Huawei USA Andy Purdy elaborates that jobs will be lost because of the rule, while Huawei will eventually recover from it.
This happened during an interview by Bloomberg, who asked Purdy for his response towards the US requiring all manufacturers using American-made equipment to get special licenses before supplying goods to Huawei. As a result, Huawei’s $700mil order for 5nm and 7nm chips from TSMC were rejected. The concern for Huawei here is whether they can find a reliable chip manufacturer that doesn’t use American-made equipment; which is a tough ask.
Leaving the US for good
According to the interview, Purdy also said that Huawei will simply take their business out of the US, which will leave many Americans, working in the semiconductor industry, without a job.; he also adds that Huawei will not return to the country should they have to migrate.
A chance to make peace
Purdy also says that Huawei is looking for an opportunity to talk to the US Government to talk about mechanisms to address risk (to national security), and are willing to also be as transparent as possible, and even work with the country to counter malicious cyber activity to protect intellectual property.
This could just be Huawei putting up a front amidst adversity; but with Huawei standing as one of the most powerful companies in the world, perhaps the company will indeed recover quickly. What’s more worrying is that with the pandemic, many have been displaced from their jobs; so, a trade war will add to the COVID-19 blow for the working people.
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