China’s Huawei to share progress of Google Android OS rival amid US tensions

Huawei Technologies is expected to respond on Thursday to the latest salvo of U.S. technology restrictions against it and share its progress on developing a system that is seen as its best bet to replace Google’s Android mobile operating system.
Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business group, will deliver a keynote speech at its annual developers conference in Dongguan, in what is expected to mark the company’s first official response to the Trump administration’s efforts to bar its access to chips.
In August the U.S. expanded earlier restrictions aimed at preventing Huawei from obtaining semiconductors without a special license – including chips made by foreign firms that have been developed or produced with U.S. software or technology.
Analysts said the restrictions threaten Huawei’s crown as the world’s largest smartphone maker, and that its smartphone business would disappear entirely if it could not source chipsets.