Huawei Launches Software Projects like Google as US Sanctions Restrict its Hardware Business

I bet you all know of the US sanctions on Huawei which has led to a dip in its Smartphone sales especially after the Pandemic situation began. To cope up for the losses in the smartphone business, Huawei has decided to expand its business by venturing into the software world. Huawei has decided to push its resources towards cloud computing and smart car software. These actions will also act as an insulator for Huawei from any potential geopolitics.

Highlights:

• Automaker BAIC Group launched Arcfox car with Huawei’s Harmony OS which is compatible with vehicle technology.
• Huawei launched new cloud computing products that could challenge Alibaba in its home country and Google in the rest of the world.

Huawei announced on Sunday to a press release that it will now divert its major focus on Cloud computing technology to increase their revenue which has faced a major setback after US applied sanctions on it. Huawei, is already a famous brand name selling Smartphones and smart watches and has its headquarters in China. In 2019, it found its way on a blacklist known as Entity List and as a result it lost its access to some technology developed by the US. This was followed by American’s decision to cut semiconductor supplies to Huawei in 2020.

Neil Shah, the research director of Counterpoint Research pointed out that due to the sanctions imposed by Washington on Huawei, the Chinese giant is not able to get certain semiconductor components and their related technology from the United States. As a result it has decided to shift its business by providing cloud computing solutions and other software services. In other words, it is trying to follow Google and become something like that.

Coincidentally, Google has developed Android OS which has a major share of Smartphone users in the world. It also has a huge cloud computing business and is currently working on automobile software. Huawei is attempting to do the same and has already developed Harmony OS which is used in smartphones, smart TVs and has recently been inculcated in an automobile too.

BAIC Group automobiles launched the Arcfox vehicle which has the modified version of Harmony OS built in. This OS was developed by Huawei for its smartphones but now has been altered to fit in smart TVs and vehicles. The cockpit of the car allows autonomous driving features with the help of this operating system. Huawei has also announced that it would not go into the car manufacturing business but rather focus on the software development for these vehicles. Currently, the vehicle software industry has two major players, Baidu and Xiaomi.

This move will also act as a Political Insulator for Huawei as it has lost a major share of its business due to Washington’s policy on chipsets. The vehicle software development also requires chipset but these are manufactured easily and with different  technology. It would be difficult for the United States to restrict this for Huawei.