14 DAY TRIAL // The United States government now allows Microsoft to sell software to Huawei after the Chinese tech giant was blacklisted in mid-May due to national security concerns.
Microsoft confirmed in a statement for Reuters that Huawei would once against start using its software, but the company did not disclose if the license to export products to its Chinese partner involves Windows.
“On November 20, the U.S. Department of Commerce granted Microsoft’s request for a license to export mass-market software to Huawei. We appreciate the Department’s action in response to our request,” a Microsoft spokesman was quoted as saying.
Additionally, the United States Commerce Department confirmed that some companies are now being granted licenses to work with Huawei, and a US official told the cited source that some 300 license requests were received.
Huawei still not allowed to use Android
Huawei was banned by the United States from using products developed by American companies back in May, and the sanctions concerned both software and hardware.
Huawei previously used Windows for its laptops, so due to the ban, the company could no longer release new PCs powered by Microsoft’s operating system – the US ban only concerned new devices, as the ones already on the market were allowed to be updated normally regardless of the software running on them.
And while Huawei can now return to installing Windows on its devices following the granted license, not the same thing can be said about Android. The Chinese tech firm still isn’t allowed to use Android on new smartphones, albeit there’s a good chance Google has also requested a license.
The US official cited by Reuters said half of the license requests had been processed and nearly one quarter of all had been approved. It’s not known if Google is among these companies though.