Huawei to stop making chipsets amid US pressure

Chinese tech giant Huawei will stop making its signature Kirin chipsets next month, as pressure from the U.S. on the company mounts.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business unit, told financial magazine Caixin that the United States’ continued pressure on its suppliers has made it impossible for the company to continue making the chipset.

“From Sept. 15 onward, our flagship Kirin processors cannot be produced,” Yu said. “Our AI-powered chips also cannot be processed. This is a huge loss for us.”

The U.S. has been trying to get other countries to divest from using Huawei technology, claiming that Huawei will steal data to give to the Chinese government.

Huawei denies it has given info to Beijing, but America’s influence has seen dividends: the British government last month said that it would prohibit its telecommunication companies from purchasing new equipment made by Huawei.

Additionally, in May, the Commerce Department ordered American companies to refrain from doing business with the Huawei. American businesses now require a license from the department to do so.

American technology company Qualcomm has been lobbying the government for such a license, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company reportedly wants to sell the Chinese company its chips that Huawei would then use in its new line of 5G smartphones.

Huawei is just one of several Chinese tech companies that U.S. officials have had in their sights as of late.

On Thursday, President Trump signed a pair of executive orders that target Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok.

The president’s executive orders ban transactions with Tencent — owner of WeChat — and fellow Chinese tech company ByteDance, which owns  TikTok, in 45 days, which would be Sept. 20.

“The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok,” the executive order states.

WeChat is China’s most popular messaging app, and TikTok is one of the United States’ most-used social media platforms.

The Trump administration has repeatedly stated its concerns about TikTok’s ties to Beijing and the potential theft of American user data by the ruling Communist Party.

ByteDance is currently under investigation by the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

American tech giant Microsoft has emerged as a potential buyer of TikTok, a move that Trump said he supports.