US companies could reportedly be allowed to restart sales of equipment and services to Huawei in as little as two weeks, as the country begins to ease restrictions on the Chinese vendor.

Reuters cited a representative for a US manufacturer, who was told by a senior US government official that licences could be granted in two-to-four weeks, although there was no details on the criteria for approvals, which would likely be made on a case-by-case basis.

The news will be a major boost to Huawei, which was rocked in May after the US Department of Commerce added it to a list which prohibits US companies from selling goods to the vendor.

However, President Donald Trump appeared to reverse the decision following talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping late last month, and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross then confirmed licences would be issued in cases where there was no threat to national security.

Reuters said two US chipmakers have already said they would apply for licences following Ross’s comments, as did a customer response management company.

The restrictions currently prohibit US companies from making new sales of goods and services to Huawei, although they can still sell products to maintain networks and provide software updates to Huawei devices.

Kevin Wolf, a lawyer and former commerce department official told Reuters: “Since there’s no downside, companies are absolutely submitting applications, as required by the regulations.”

Huawei OS
As relations with the US seemingly begin to ease, Huawei has pressed on with efforts to develop its own operating system (OS).

LetsGoDigital reported the company registered the name Harmony with the EU Intellectual Property Office, which could be the name of its new OS.

The application reportedly mentioned both mobile and PC OSes. The name differs from a trademark Huawei filed with the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation in June for Hongmeng, also its own OS.

Huawei is developing an OS as a potential way to safeguard its devices, after the US ban threatened its access to Google’s Android.