Microsoft may block updates to Huawei laptops

The danger of relying on a US-based operating system has been exposed today after major tech companies responded to the Trump administration banning Huawei from receiving technology support from US companies.

Google has already pulled Huawei’s Android licenses, and both Qualcomm and Intel have said they can no longer provide chips to the Chinese company.

Another US company who’s OS is widely used is Microsoft, and according to Techradar the company has declined to comment on whether they would continue in this role, saying rather tersely “we have nothing to share.”

According to sources, due to the Trump blacklist, Google will have to halt business activities with Huawei that involve direct transfer of hardware, software and technical services that are not publicly available.  It will need to manually access any updates or software patches from Android Open Source Project, and also distribute the updates to users itself, a source told AFP. Given that Windows is closed-source this option would not be available to Huawei, and it seems likely the roll-out of the May 2019 update would be at risk.

We have asked Microsoft for a statement and will update the article when it is delivered.