Qualcomm has received a licence from the US government to sell 4G mobile phone chips to Huawei, giving it an exemption to US trade restrictions against the Chinese company. A Qualcomm spokeswoman confirmed the licence to Reuters.
She declined to comment on the specific 4G products Qualcomm can sell to Huawei but said they were related to mobile devices. Qualcomm has other licence applications pending with the US government, she said.
In the past Huawei was a relatively small chip customer for Qualcomm. Huawei uses its own house-designed chips in its flagship handsets but used Qualcomm chips in lower-priced models.
However, the company's ability to design its own chips was thwarted in September by the US trade restrictions that blocked its access to chip design software and fabrication tools. As its pool of internally produced components runs out, it may turn more to Qualcomm as supplier. The two companies reached a new licensing agreement earlier this year.
