ALBAWABA – China’s renowned Huawei Technologies company is reportedly now able to procure 5G chips domestically and will shortly be able to produce 5G phones again, Reuters reported Wednesday.
Huawei will soon be able to circumvent the United States (US) ban on advanced microchip technologies export to China, using its own advances in semiconductor design tools, in cooperation with partners.
Chief among such partners is the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company (SMIC), third-party technology research firms specializing in China’s smartphone sector have told Reuters.
Three of them, citing industry sources including Huawei suppliers, spoke on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements with clients, the news agency claimed.
Huawei's consumer business revenue peaked at $67 billion in 2020, before plummeting by almost 50 percent a year later, according to Reuters, due to US restrictions.
The Shenzhen, China-based tech giant once sparred with Apple and Samsung to become the world's biggest handset maker.
But consecutive US restrictions, citing Huawei as a security risk, began in 2019 and cut the company’s access to chipmaking tools, which were essential for producing its most advanced smartphone models.
The US and European governments labelled Huawei a security risk, a charge the company denies. Since then, Huawei has only sold limited batches of 5G models using stockpiled chips.
Huawei was stuck selling 4G handsets. As a result, the company fell from most ranking around the world in 2022, after sales hit a low point, Reuters reported. Adding that the company’s share in the China market rose to 10 percent in the first quarter.
One of Reuters sources forecasts 2-4 million units sold by Huawei, while another predicted sales to hit 10 million units, now that the company has found a way to overcome US bans.
According to a Chinese newspaper, the China Securities Journal, the phonemaker raised its 2023 shipment target to 40 million units, up from 30 million earlier in the year.
The article made no mention of returning to the production of 5G phones.
However, Huawei could produce 5G versions of its flagship models this year, like the iPhone-rival P60, but new launches are expected in early 2024, the news agency’s sources confirmed.
Huawei in March announced it had made breakthroughs in electronic design automation (EDA) tools for chips produced at and above 14 nanometre (nm) technology, according to Reuters.
Huawei's EDA software could be used with SMIC processes to make chips at the equivalent of 7 nanometers, the announcement reportedly confirmed. This is the scale of the powerful semiconductors typically used in 5G phones.
Notably, Washington barred SMIC from obtaining an advanced chipmaking tool called the EUV machine from Dutch firm ASML, which is critical in the process of making 7 nm chips.
However, Reuters’ analysis have found signs that SMIC was able to produce 7 nm chips by tweaking simpler DUV machines it could still purchase freely from ASML.
