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