TSMC halts new Huawei orders after US tightens restrictions
“Despite the Entity List actions the Department took last year, Huawei and its foreign affiliates have stepped-up efforts to undermine these national security-based restrictions through an indigenization effort.  However, that effort is still dependent on U.S. technologies,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.  “This is not how a responsible global corporate citizen behaves.  We must amend our rules exploited by Huawei and HiSilicon and prevent U.S. technologies from enabling malign activities contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.”<p>What? You just tried to bankrupt company by cutting off all of their suppliers and partners of business. Of course they will try to survive by trying to self-reliant. The company employs 100,000 people, is super important to the local economy and employment in the shenzhen area, and has over 50% of the shares in China&#x27;s entire core internet infrastructure. If Huawei does not get the supply it needs, it cannot serve the entire China&#x27;s core internet, do you know how much danger that causes to China&#x27;s communication infrastructure security? How much economic damage to the country it&#x27;s going to be? This actually directly harms China&#x27;s national security. Whereas the US claims Huawei harms its national security, when Huawei is not even in the US. When Huawei gets killed off, how do you tell the workers of Huawei and their families, that their livelihood is gone because by its killed of by you, which is a foreign government to them. Are you sure you can deal with the anti-American sentiment afterwards. There is a saying in Chinese &quot;cut of the way someone earns money is equal to killing their parents&quot; （断人财路如杀人父母）You also know that the average Chinese person is super proud of Huawei as a brand right?<p>This rule change effectively forces all companies in the world that is in the semiconductor industry to abide by US governments wishes. TSMC 7nm processes has less then 10% of US IP and technology. It was developed by Taiwan people with TSMC own investment. But they invariably could use a technology that is in the ERA. Hell, Intel processors is one, and god forbid if the production line has a computer that contains Intel chips. You could argue that this Intel chip assisted in producing Huawei&#x27;s chip no? Where do you draw the line? The US government can just decide how to enforce this based on their feelings of the day? Are you sure this the standard for international justice?<p>For alleged IP infringement against Huawei, get the evidence and sue the company at court. I am all for it, as long as there is trial. So far there are two cases IP infringement cases that I know of, 1 in 2003 with Cisco that settled out of court. 2 with T-mobile in 2013 with regarding a phone testing arm. But Huawei&#x27;s main business is base bands, routers, and consumer electronics. By the way, Ercission has cross licence agreement with Huawei to access Huawei&#x27;s 5G patents. Huawei has many invention patents in 5G, that is recognized globally. I don&#x27;t get where the theft of IP comes from that warrant the company to be killed off.<p>For security issues. Let the market decide, let the customer decide. Customer should be able to make a comprehensive product selection process based on their needs. And if the market says no to Huawei, then Huawei is dead. But let the market decide. US companies can also compete with Huawei, and say they are more secure. Huawei sucks. That is all fine. And I am also fine with the US government producing security assessments on Huawei, and telling every country on earth to not use Huawei equipment. That is US government&#x27;s right. But at least the customer can decide for themselves if Huawei is worth anything. If Huawei is dead because of that, then sure. Its all fair and square. The US can also form alliances with other countries and make sure the country ban Huawei equipment in their countries too. That is the US right too. There are so many ways to compete with Huawei.<p>US gov&#x27;s action is as if, China ordered that every country in the world shall not do business with Microsoft, and forces Microsoft to go bankrupt right now. Imagine if the Microsoft cloud and office365 stops running because of that. US would probably sent warplanes to China by then.<p>Huawei&#x27;s 4G technology worked really well for China&#x27;s environment and was affordable for mass development. It is key enabler in allowing the country to deploy 4G to almost everywhere in China, even the remote villages. This enabled everyone with smartphone to use the internet. And as result, services like mobile payment, shopping, gaming all flourished in China. It in turns create a massive cellphone market in China. Apple, Qualcomn, Xllinx, and host of consumer product providers, or Huawei&#x27;s US suppliers all benefited from this. Competitions in the phone space also pushed the innovation and pricing for smart phones. Huawei was one of the first to push smartphone camera quality and added multi-focal lengths to phones. It pushed Apple and Samsung to innovate on cameras too, look at where smartphone photography has become. I believe US and Chinese technology companies can work together in their respective markets, to make technology more useful, enrich the economy, and make people&#x27;s lives better. Its not a zero sum game. But the US government is viewing it as such. If US wants to win, China must lose.<p>With the US government essentially taking the world&#x27;s companies into hostage in killing off Huawei, I am not sure if US Gov is being a responsible world citizen.