Panasonic halts business with Huawei subject to US ban
Company says impact on earnings limited
ITSURO FUJINO, Nikkei staff writer
MAY 23, 2019 01:14 JST
OSAKA -- Japanese electronics group Panasonic has decided to suspend supplies of certain components to Huawei Technologies following U.S. restrictions on exports to the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker, Nikkei has learned.
"The affected products are limited, and there will be hardly any impact on earnings," a Panasonic representative said.
The components in question are thought to be smartphone related. Panasonic supplies parts for Huawei phones, and some of the Japanese companies' products use U.S.-made technology.
The Osaka-based company said it will study whether other products are affected by last week's U.S. Commerce Department decision, which applies to American-made technology, as well as to products manufactured overseas if the ratio of U.S.-derived content exceeds 25% by market value.
Suppliers that violate the export restrictions face fines or other penalties. Last year, Huawei procured roughly 700 billion yen ($6.3 billion) worth of goods from Japanese companies. The products appear to include Sony's image sensors and memory chips from Toshiba Memory.
A representative from Murata Manufacturing, which is thought to supply capacitors and surface acoustic wave filters for Huawei's smartphone business, said its business had not been affected by the U.S. move. Fellow Japanese company Kyocera, which also reportedly ships capacitors to Huawei, said it is examining the restrictions, including the scale of the impact.
