Displaying items by tag: chips

The Trump administration announced it will further tighten restrictions on Huawei, aimed at cracking down on its access to commercially available chips.

A Commerce Department statement added 38 Huawei affiliates around the world to the "entity list," claiming that the company was using international subsidiaries to circumvent the sanctions which prevent export of US-based technology.

Ramped-up US restrictions are likely to cut off the Chinese smartphone maker’s access to even off-the-shelf chips and disrupt the global tech supply chain once again, executives and experts cautioned.

“It will have a huge impact,” said Gu Wenjun, chief analyst at Shanghai-based consultancy ICWise, referring to tighter U.S. curbs. “It will throw off Huawei’s plans to obtain chips by purchasing them externally, rather than relying on HiSilicon.”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Huawei and its affiliates "have worked through third parties to harness US technology in a manner that undermines US national security and foreign policy interests."

US officials have argued Huawei poses a security risk because of its links to the Beijing government, a claim denied by the company.

The toughening of sanctions comes amid heightened US-China tensions and claims by Washington that Chinese firms are being used for spying, despite repeated denials.

President Donald Trump has also sought to ban the wildly popular mobile application TikTok if it is not divested by its Chinese parent firm ByteDance.

5G

The Trump administration has banned Huawei from 5G wireless networks in the United States and has pressed allies to do the same.

In the meantime, Huawei became the largest global smartphone manufacturer in the past quarter, largely due to sales in the Chinese market, even as Washington moves to deny the company access to much of the Google Android system.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a separate statement that the Trump Administration "sees Huawei for what it is – an arm of the Chinese Communist Party's surveillance state."

Pompeo said the new sanctions were imposed "to protect US national security, our citizens' privacy, and the integrity of our 5G infrastructure from Beijing's malign influence."

The Commerce Department action affects Huawei affiliates in 21 countries including China, Brazil, Argentina, France, Germany, Singapore, Thailand and Britain.

The order blocks any of the companies from acquiring US-based software or technology used in products or components.

US officials said there would be no further extensions for the sanctions waivers from the Commerce Department which had been allowed to minimize disruptions.

The Semiconductor Industry Association said that “these broad restrictions on commercial chip sales will bring significant disruption to the U.S. semiconductor industry.”

“We are surprised and concerned by the administration’s sudden shift from its prior support of a more narrow approach intended to achieve stated national security goals while limiting harm to US companies,” the association said.

US chipmaker Qualcomm has reignited its ongoing dispute with Apple following its decision to call on the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the sale of certain iPhones. Qualcomm is calling for the prohibition of sales on the devices because it alleges that Apple has infringed up to six of its patents.

Qualcomm issued a direct and blunt statement in which it claims Apple had ‘engaged in the unlawful importation and sales’ of some iPhones – and confirmed that it is currently in the process of filing an official complaint with the ITC. Qualcomm which unveiled its Snapdragon 835 processor at CES 2017 in January, has argued that the patents in question involve ‘key technologies’ that enable important features and functions in iPhones, which includes the capacity to prolong battery life and overall efficiency of the devices.

Qualcomm has urged ITC to begin an investigation into Apple’s conduct, infringing imports and that they issue a Limited Exclusion Order (LEO) to bar importation of the devices into the US. It stressed that the ITC must stop Apple’s unlawful and unfair use of Qualcomm’s technology. This row is the latest in a long-running feud between the two technology titans, and Qualcomm added that it’s also seeking an LEO against iPhones that used cellular baseband processors other than those supplied by Qualcomm affiliates.

Analysts have suggested Qualcomm are talking about Intel indirectly, although they never name Intel in its official statement. But it is widely known that Intel began supplying chips to some iPhone 7 devices in September 2016.

Through a Cease and Desist order, Qualcomm is also attempting to block the sale of devices already in the US it believes infringe on its patents. Apple’s iPhones are assembled in Asia. Don Rosenberg, EVP and general counsel at Qualcomm said: “Apple continues to use Qualcomm’s technology while refusing to pay for it. These lawsuits seek to stop Apple’s infringement of six of our patented technologies.”

The row began in January when Apple sued Qualcomm alleging them of being guilty of overcharging them for chips, and refused to pay $1 billion in rebates. Qualcomm hit back in a counterclaim against Apple for breaching agreements and a number of other allegations.

Qualcomm then subsequently initiated legal proceedings against four Apple iPhone manufacturers for failing to pay royalties and breaching licensing agreements, before Apple launched a legal attack on Qualcomm’s business at the start of this month. Despite Qualcomm’s latest onslaught, the short-term impact on Apple is expected to be limited. Qualcomm has indicated that it expects the ITC to begin an investigation in August, but the case will not be tried until next year.

Qualcomm Incorporated through its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., announced at its Internet of Things (IoT) industry analyst workshop that the company is currently shipping more than 1 million chips per day for the Internet of Things.

This momentum reflects Qualcomm Technologies' unique ability to invent and deliver the technologies needed for the IoT, and to meet challenging customer requirements for interoperability, connectivity, compute and security.

The company uses its technical expertise to design platforms that help customers commercialize IoT products quickly and cost-effectively in areas including wearables, voice and music, connected cameras, robotics and drones, home control and automation, home entertainment, and commercial and industrial IoT.

"We are focused on significantly expanding capabilities at the edge of the network by supporting everyday objects with the connectivity, compute and security technologies required to build a powerful Internet of Things, where devices are smart, convenient, work well together and incorporate advanced security features," said Raj Talluri, senior vice president, product management, IoT, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

"While hundreds of brands have shipped over 1.5 billion IoT products using our solutions, we are just getting a glimpse of the benefits that the IoT can deliver, with analysts estimating that IoT applications could have a total economic impact of up to 11 trillion dollars a year by 2025. We have built strong capabilities on top of our leadership in mobile inventions, and we are innovating in exciting new areas such as deep learning, voice interface and LTE IoT that will power a new generation of IoT devices."

Qualcomm Technologies' traction in IoT spans across a variety of ecosystems. For instance, the company's wearables platforms have been adopted in more than 150 wearable designs, and over 80 percent of Android Wear™ smartwatches launched or announced are based on Snapdragon Wear 2100. In smart homes, more than 125 million TVs, home entertainment and other connected home products from leading brands have shipped using Qualcomm Technologies' connectivity chips.

For commercial and industrial IoT applications, over 30 designs are using the company's MDM9206 modem with multimode support for LTE categories M1 and NB1, E-GPRS and global RF bands. MDM9206 is purposely developed for IoT applications and is commercially available today.

To address this wide variety of ecosystems, form factors and requirements in the IoT, Qualcomm Technologies offers one of the broadest portfolios of chips and platforms, including mobile, multimedia, cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth system-on-chips. These solutions include comprehensive software with platform-specific applications and APIs, as well as support for multiple communication protocols, operating systems and cloud services.

To further help manufacturers develop IoT devices quickly and cost-effectively, Qualcomm Technologies makes available more than 25 production-ready reference design platforms through a network of original design manufacturers (ODMs) for products including voice-enabled home assistants, connected cameras, drones, VR headsets, lighting, appliances and smart hubs/gateways.