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British firm Arm says new chip tech could be licensed to Huawei, potentially easing the telecoms giant’s supply chain woes

  • Arm said its latest tech upgrade is not subject to US export regulations, following a comprehensive review
  • The British firm sells processor designs and licenses an instruction set – code that controls semiconductors – to companies like Huawei and Apple

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The headquarters of British chip designer Arm in Cambridge, UK. Photo: Wikipedia
Che PanandBloomberg
Semiconductor design company Arm expects its latest v9 architecture to be potentially licensed to Huawei Technologies Co, as the latest chip innovation is of British origin and not subject to US export regulations.
That would be a welcome development for Huawei, whose advanced chips are designed by semiconductor unit HiSilicon, amid its struggles to cope with tightened US trade sanctions that have restricted its access to sophisticated chips of American origin.

“Following a comprehensive review, Arm has determined that its Arm v9 architecture is not subject to the US Export Administration Regulations,” said Ian Smythe, vice-president of solutions marketing at the British firm, during a media event in Beijing on Wednesday. He said Arm has communicated its review to the appropriate US government agencies.

Arm sells processor designs and licenses an instruction set – code that controls semiconductors – to companies such as Apple, Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm. Arm’s technology is pervasive in the smartphone industry and is gaining a foothold in other markets such as personal computers and servers.

The v9 architecture, which was launched by Arm on Tuesday in the UK, could be licensed to Huawei’s HiSilicon unit because it is not covered by US regulations, an Arm spokeswoman said on the sidelines of the Beijing event on Wednesday. Whether Huawei has moved to license the company’s v9 architecture is not known, she said.

A child looks at chips designed for 5G base stations by HiSilicon, the semiconductor unit of Huawei Technologies Co, on display at the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2019 in Guiyang, in southwest China’s Guizhou province. Photo: Xinhua.
A child looks at chips designed for 5G base stations by HiSilicon, the semiconductor unit of Huawei Technologies Co, on display at the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2019 in Guiyang, in southwest China’s Guizhou province. Photo: Xinhua.

Shenzhen-based Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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