Indian companies to be punished for Huawei business

India is the latest country to be dragged into the US/China conflict as the threat of punishment is directed towards any companies who work with Huawei.

According to the Economic Times, any company found to be supplying components or products to Huawei, or any affiliated company on the US Entity List, could face regulatory penalties. Although the White House has focused on crippling Huawei through placing limitations on US companies, it seems the US Government feels it needs to spread its wings further.

“Any Indian company which will act as a supplier of US-origin equipment, software, technology to Huawei and its affiliates in entity list could be subject to penal action/sanction under US regulations,” said Telecoms and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Parliament this week.

Although Huawei’s entry onto the Entity List, a list of companies which US firms are banned from working with, has had a notable impact on the Chinese firm’s business, it seems the consequences have not gone far enough. Huawei has suggested smartphone shipments will certainly take a hit, but the company is still functional, seemingly much to the distaste of US officials.

Last year, the US dropped an economic dirty-bomb on ZTE and it almost destroyed the firm. ZTE’s supply chain was unhealthily concentrated in the US leading to the distress, though as Huawei’s supply chain is much more diversified, the same action has not brought the same result.

Perhaps this is another step to add further distress to Huawei. If the US Government places restrictions on the companies who supply Huawei, irrelevant to their nationality, it might have a better chance of hurting the Chinese vendor.

That said, the impact on Huawei might just be a pleasant by-product of a dispute between the US and India. Like China, Mexico and Canada, India has got its own tensions with the US this time concerning data localisation.

Last month, rumours emerged that India would be the latest target of the US. India currently has laws in place which force foreign companies to store data on Indian consumers and businesses within the borders. There are other countries who have similar laws, but the US does seem to have some leverage over India.

H-1B work visas allow an individual to enter the US to temporarily work at an employer in a specialty occupation. Although there are no official quotas, it is believed Indian citizens account for as much as 70% of the H-1B work visas which are handed out each year. If localisation rules are not relaxed, the US has threatened to curb the flow of visas into India.

What will interesting to see is whether this is a strategy which is rolled out globally for the US Government. If it holds all of Huawei’s suppliers who use US components, products or IP in their products to account, there will be a varied list. This might be a strategy to further cause distress to Huawei, though we suspect it could also be used as a bargaining chip in the larger trade discussions.