Holding out on Huawei

ON MAY 20TH it became clear that some of the world’s most prominent technology companies—Google, Intel and Qualcomm—had stopped selling software, hardware and licences for intellectual property to Huawei, a Chinese manufacturer of phones and networking gear. This followed an announcement by the American government on May 15th that it was banning the export of American technology to Huawei unless companies got a special licence from the Department of Commerce.

Huawei, which sources a sixth of all its components from American companies, appears vulnerable. It has stockpiled enough components to keep its business running for several months. But reconfiguring its supply chain so that it is no longer reliant on American firms, which would be the only way to truly insulate itself from the trade wars, will be hard.