Huawei has postponed indefinitely the release of a new laptop

(June 12) Huawei has postponed indefinitely the release of a new laptop that uses Windows as an OS according to the Windows laptop consumer CEO Richard Yu.

The new laptop was set to be announced at CES Asia show

The 2019 Consumer Electronics Show Asia will be held in Shanghahi this week: "Be part of the tech revolution. Experience groundbreaking technology and get in touch with the world’s brightest minds at Asia’s leading tech event. CES Asia is the place where startups, entrepreneurs and global brands converge to form game-changing partnerships. CES Asia 2019 will return to Shanghai, China June 11-13, 2019. The only industry event focused on the Asia-Pacific market will take place at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) and the Kerry Hotel in Pudong New Area."

The new US trade sanctions are restricting Huawei's ability to use US software such as Microsoft's Windows 10 and Intel processors. Yu said the situation was unfortunate and said that the new product would have been revealed this week but without a release date. Given the problems with the US ban as Huawei is on the US Entity List the company decided not even to announce the product. Unless Huawei is removed from the blacklist the laptop may never see the light of day.

Addition of Huawei to the US Entity List

The Federal Register summarizes the addition of Huawei to the Entity List: "In this rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei) to the Entity List. The U.S. Government has determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that Huawei has been involved in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. BIS is also adding non-U.S. affiliates of Huawei to the Entity List because those affiliates pose a significant risk of involvement in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. Huawei will be listed on the Entity List under the destination of China. This final rule also adds to the Entity List sixty-eight non-U.S. affiliates of Huawei located in twenty-six destinations: Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Madagascar, Netherlands, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and Vietnam."

Notice 68 affiliates in 26 other countries are also on the list.

Huawei to stop production of laptops

No details of the new laptop have been revealed except that it will be in the MateBook line. In February Huawei announced the Matebook 14 and also updated its well thought of Matebook X Pro line. But neither has shipped as yet.

Digitimes had reported earlier this week that Huawei is actually halting production and development of laptop computers. Microsoft has said nothing about what is happening but has removed Huawei laptops from sale.

Huawei stockpiling parts and technology

Huawei hopes to mitigate the effects of the ban on existing laptops as it has been stockpiling US components of the laptops.

The laptop division is a very small part of the company's total business. However, the laptops had represented the biggest consumer success in the US so far. It was a success too for the US companies who supplied components.

Previously published in the Digital Journal