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Qualcomm Wants Permission to Sell Chips to Huawei, WSJ Reports

Qualcomm has been putting pressure on the Trump administration to allow it to sell components to Huawei Technologies.

Qualcomm Wants Permission to Sell Chips to Huawei, WSJ Reports
Visitors wearing protective masks sit in front of a screen displaying the logos of Qualcomm Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co. at the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China. (Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg)

Qualcomm Inc. has been putting pressure on the Trump administration to allow it to sell components to Huawei Technologies Co., saying current restrictions risk channeling revenue to foreign competitors rather than preventing the Chinese company from obtaining the parts, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The U.S. chipmaker is lobbying to be permitted to sell chips to Huawei that would be used in 5G phones, the newspaper reported, citing a presentation it says has been “circulating around Washington” and without specifyinghow it obtained the document. U.S. chipmakers are required to obtain a license from the Commerce Department to ship certain components to Huawei.

Qualcomm says that, due to the restrictions, its foreign competitors now have access to a market worth as much as $8 billion each year. It cites Taiwan’s MediaTek Inc. and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. as those benefiting from the redirected revenue stream.

Samsung declined to comment to the WSJ, while MediaTek said its investment in 5G technology has allowed it to win customers globally. It declined to identify specific companies.

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