After phones, the US now wants to hurt Huawei's laptop business

The US trade ban against Huawei has hurt the Chinese manufacturer in many ways, but it is the company's smartphone division that has suffered the most. However, it appears that the US government is now targeting Huawei's PC business.

Reuters The United States has reportedly revoked export licenses for Intel and Qualcomm to sell to Huawei, citing three sources familiar with the issue. A fourth source told the agency that the license cancellation became effective immediately. The Ministry of Commerce reportedly confirmed that it had canceled several export licenses for Huawei but did not reveal further details.

This move comes just one day after Huawei launched new MateBook laptops globally, namely the lightweight MateBook 14 and MateBook The MateBook

What does this mean for Huawei laptops?

It's unclear whether a manufacturer is prohibited from using all Intel chips in its laptops or if it only applies to specific products (such as processors with built-in AI silicon). But even a ban that applies only to Intel's AI-enabled chips would put Huawei at a disadvantage compared to competitors. This would also be a blow either way, as the PC segment was one of the few categories the company turned to in the wake of US sanctions.

It is also unclear whether Huawei will be banned from using all Qualcomm chips in its phones. The company previously only used Snapdragon 4G chipsets in its flagship phones but has since moved to in-house Kirin 5G processors. But Qualcomm did NB In a recent earnings call, it said it doesn't expect any revenue from Huawei products in 2025 as the Chinese manufacturer shifts to a 5G-only portfolio.

In any case, losing the Qualcomm chipset won't necessarily be a big problem for Huawei phones, as the company has its own in-house processor. But we wonder if the company is well-equipped to handle the potential loss of major computer chip vendors like Intel.