Huawei ready to adopt own operating system if banned by Microsoft, Google

A top Huawei official said Thursday that the company will have its own operating system ready to replace Google and Microsoft smartphone and laptop software if permanently blocked from licensing the American products.

“Today, Huawei, we are still committed to Microsoft Windows and Google Android. But if we cannot use that, Huawei will prepare the plan B to use our own OS,” Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business, told CNBC.

{mosads}President Trump issued an order last week that would have banned American companies from dealing with Huawei, citing national security reasons. Huawei has long faced scrutiny from the U.S. intelligence community over its alleged ties to the Chinese government.

If implemented, the order would mean Huawei would no longer be able to license the version of Google’s Android operating system it uses for its smartphones.

On Monday, the administration delayed the order, giving a 90-day license that “grants operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long-term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services.”

Yu told CNBC if the ban is upheld, Huawei’s own operating system could be ready by the fourth quarter of this year, with a version for its markets outside of China available in either the first or second quarter of 2020.

He stressed that Huawei would only roll out the system if it was permanently banned from using Google or Microsoft products.

“We don’t want to do this but we will forced to do that because of the U.S. government. I think the U.S., this kind of thing, will also not only be bad news for us, but also bad news for the U.S. companies because we support the U.S. business, so we will be forced to do this on our own,” Yu said. “We don’t want to do this but we have no other solution, no other choice.”