Google has suspended business with Huawei, thereby cutting off Huawei's Android license following US crackdown on Chinese tech firms.
First reported by Reuters, the Alphabet owned company suspended business with Huawei that had to do with the transfer of hardware, software, and technical services except those publicly available through open source licensing.
This order comes following the US Commerce Department's recent decision to place Huawei on the "Entity List," which is a list of companies that needs the US government's approval before they can buy tech from US firms. In fact, appearing on this list alone means you have a very slim or zero chance of acquiring US tech.
"We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications," a Google spokesperson told Reuters.
"Huawei will only be able to use the public version of Android and will not be able to get access to proprietary apps and services from Google," A Google spokesperson said.
Google, however, says that the current users of Huawei smartphones with Google apps installed, will still be able to use it and also download app updates.
"For users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices".
For now, the full range of Android integration that Huawei depends on isn't yet known. However, the suspension will disrupt the smartphone maker's business outside China, most especially in Europe, since it will be cut off from critical Google apps and services and as well, access to updates to Google's Android operating system.
Bloomberg reports that chip makers Qualcomm Inc, Broadcom Inc, Intel Inc, and Xilinx Inc have all told their employees that they will not supply critical software and components to Huawei until further notice.
Several US intelligence agencies have been raising fears that Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese firms equipments could be used by the Chinese government to spy on America networks. Huawei in her defence rebuffed those claims that it wasn't possible for the Chinese government to infiltrate its network with backdoors.
Huawei has been long been developing an alternative operating system for its mobile and PC platform in case such events happens.
"Huawei has been building an alternative operating system just in case it is needed," Huawei spokesperson Glenn Scholes said. "We would like to be able to continue operating in the Microsoft and Google ecosystems." he added.