Huawei Technologies’ announcement of its Mate 60-series smartphones, which showed China’s ability to evade US sanctions, and Chinese authorities’ introduction of a ban on officials’ use of the Apple iPhone sent Qualcomm’s share price down 7.2 at once % fall $106.40 each. This is the biggest drop in a month.
Image source: Qualcomm
As explained Bloomberg, American Qualcomm Inc. remains the world’s largest supplier of smartphone chips. In the case of Apple products, it powers the iPhone with modems, so losing even part of the Chinese market for the Cupertino-based company’s products could result in big losses for Qualcomm.
On the other hand, this American supplier legally supplies smartphone chips to the Chinese company Huawei Technologies, since the export of 4G-related components is not yet restricted by US export control regulations. And the fact that Huawei has established production of its chips could impact Qualcomm’s supply. But what is even worse for the American manufacturer: Recently, some American parliamentarians called for a complete block on the export of American technologies for Huawei. Overall, the PRC, along with Hong Kong, generates about two-thirds of Qualcomm’s total revenue, and the heightened risks in that geographic direction have predictably alarmed Qualcomm investors.
Perhaps the only good news for Qualcomm was the absence of prohibited components from this brand in the Huawei Mate 60 series smartphones. South Korean memory chip maker SK hynix, for example, was very confused that Huawei was using its products to circumvent US export restrictions that have been in effect since 2019.
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