Huawei is preparing to launch its own mobile phone operating system after Google said it would stop supplying it with its Android software, amid an intensifying US-China trade war that has rocked global markets.
The Chinese telecoms group was last week placed on a “banned entity” list by the White House, which forbids American companies from supplying it with technology. Google said it was “complying with the order and reviewing the implications”. Huawei, which overtook Apple to become the world’s number-two smartphone maker this year, relies on Google’s Android operating system for its phones and shipped more than 200m last year.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy, at Saxo Bank, said Google’s move was “effectively the starting signal of a technology cold war”, adding: “What we are witnessing is a potential reconfiguration of global trade.”