Expanded US Sanctions Against Huawei May Impact its Production of Smartphones, 5G Base Station Chips
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Commerce announced last week that suppliers are prohibited from providing semiconductor products and components manufactured with U.S. equipment and software to Huawei and its subsidiaries. Global market intelligence firm TrendForce says the impact of these sanctions on the company’s smartphone and 5G base station manufacturing are not yet fully known.
TrendForce maintains its forecast that Huawei will produce 190 million smartphones in 2020, based on its existing inventory and the assumption that some components can still be supplied to the company before September 15. However, should Huawei be completely prohibited from obtaining components containing U.S. technology after September 15, the forecast of Huawei smartphone production for 2021 would be downsized to about 30-50 million units.