Software giant, Microsoft has been issued a license to export software to Huawei again.
Microsoft like many other US-based technology companies were forced to comply with President Trump’s executive order to take regulatory actions on Chinese tech companies.
A Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to Bloomberg said, “On November 20th, the US Department of Commerce granted Microsoft’s request for a license to export mass-market software to Huawei.
“We appreciate the department’s action in response to our request.”
According to The Verge, it is still not explicit what the term ‘mass-market’ entails, however, Microsoft sells Windows and Office licenses to Huawei. It’s likely that Microsoft is at least able to sell Windows licenses to Huawei once again, which will help with Huawei’s server solutions and its Windows-powered laptops. Microsoft is part of a number of US companies that are starting to get licenses to supply goods to Huawei once again.
The Chinese tech giant, Huawei had postponed the launch of a Windows-powered laptop that was due to be unveiled at the CES Asia earlier this year. Microsoft also briefly stopped selling Huawei’s MateBook X Pro laptop at its stores, before returning to sell existing inventory of Huawei laptops.
The latest development is a big score for Microsoft especially for the company’s work with Huawei on Azure. Both Microsoft and Huawei both operate a hybrid cloud solution for Microsoft’s Azure stack, using Microsoft-certified Huawei servers. Huawei’s work on Azure and its laptops could still be complicated by any bans affecting components from US-based companies like Intel.
