San Francisco, May 23 (IANS): Following the US trade ban against Chinese companies, Japanese tech major Panasonic and UK-based chip designer ARM have "suspended transactions" and cut ties with Huawei, the media reported.

"Panasonic announced in an internal notification that it should suspend transactions with Huawei and its 68 affiliates that were banned by the US government," BBC quoted the company as saying on Thursday.

Later, the Japanese company appeared to contradict that position with a statement posted on its China website that said the company was continuing supplies to Huawei.

The company specified that the ban applies to goods having 25 per cent or more of US-originated materials, but did not clear what transactions Panasonic was suspending, or why they were subject to US restrictions.

On the other hand, saying that its designs contained "US origin technology," ARM instructed employees to halt "all active contracts, support entitlements, and any pending engagements" with Huawei and its subsidiaries, BBC reported on Wednesday.

Analysts believe that ARM's decision of breaking off with Huawei would affect the Chinese tech company's ability to develop its own chips, many of which are currently built with ARM's underlying technology, for which it pays a licence fee.

On May 15, US President Donald Trump effectively banned Huawei with a national security order.

The US publicly asked its allies to steer clear of using Huawei products over concerns that the equipment could be used by the Chinese government to obtain private information.

Following the trade clampdown, tech majors including Google, Microsoft, Intel and Qualcomm put restrictions on businesses with Huawei.