Qualcomm clarified its position regarding shipping goods to Huawei, following reports it had recommenced dealings with the under-fire company.

A representative told Mobile World Live initial reports by Caixin had misinterpreted comments made by CEO Steve Mollenkopf regarding the situation. Where the news outlet reported the company had restarted shipments, the US company explained this related to goods not covered by an export ban involving the Chinese vendor.

The original Caixin article noted Mollenkopf had not specified which components were being sold to Huawei, which potentially gave rise to the misunderstanding.

While Huawei manufactures its own chipsets for flagship smartphones, its lower-end devices and those from sub-brand Honor use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors.

Huawei was placed on the US trade blacklist in May on national security grounds. US companies including Qualcomm and Google have to gain a special licence to continue selling equipment and software to the vendor after a grace period expires, though The Wall Street Journal previously reported Qualcomm was one of several companies which had restarted shipments of specific components without breaching the ban.

By end-August, US companies had submitted more than 130 applications for licences, Reuters reported.

Huawei bought $11 billion worth of equipment from US suppliers out of a budget of $70 billion in 2018. The vendor is a key customer of Qualcomm, with the ban already taking a toll on earnings in the three months to end-June.

Last month legal officials in the US investigated claims Huawei stole intellectual property and dubiously recruited staff from rival companies, allegations the vendor denied.

Updated 25 September to reflect Qualcomm’s clarification.