US tech companies have been cleared to extend their partnership with Chinese smartphone and telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies, but it may be too late. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese company is now creating smartphones without the use of American-made chips.
Introduced in September, the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, a curved display rivaling the Apple iPhone 11, does not contain American parts. This was reported by analysts from the investment bank UBS and the Japanese technology laboratory Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, which studied the design of the device.
In May, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump banned U.S. supplies to Huawei as trade tensions with Beijing escalated. This resulted in the cessation of exports of Qualcomm and Intel products for Huawei orders, although some shipments resumed in the summer when the companies were convinced that the ban does not apply to these products.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose department oversees export licenses, said last month that US manufacturers had been granted licenses to resume supplies of chips and some other products to Huawei. According to him, the department received about 300 applications.
While Huawei has not completely stopped using US components, it has reduced its reliance on US suppliers and eliminated US chips in smartphones launched since May, including ΠΈ , according to Fomalhaut's teardown analysis. iFixit and Tech Insights also tested the components and came to the same conclusion.
This means that next year's Huawei smartphones will probably not use components from the US either. Previously, Huawei has purchased communication chips from US companies like Qorvo, Skyworks, and its own HiSilicon division. After the ban, the company ordered some chips from Qorvo, but stopped buying from Skyworks, while the Japanese company Murata became the new supplier of these components. Similarly, Huawei has stopped buying Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules from Broadcom and is now using its own replacements.
The report states that Huawei was aware of the possibility of a US supply chain ban as early as 2012. As a result, the company began to stockpile the necessary components, which helped it not to stop production after the entry into force of the restrictions. In addition, Huawei has begun seeking suppliers from countries outside the US and has also stepped up the development of its own components. The company already owns important assets in HiSilicon Semiconductors, which develops competitive Kirin single-chip systems and Balong modems. Their production is carried out by the Taiwanese TSMC, which stated that it does not intend to stop cooperation with Huawei.
According to the report, Huawei is also moving away from American components in network equipment. The company is the world's largest supplier of these technologies, with a market share of 28%. Huawei has eliminated American components and software in the production of next-generation 5G base stations, in which carriers are investing heavily in deployment. Currently, Huawei can only produce 5000 5G base stations per month, and promises to increase production to 125 units per month by next year.
Huawei Senior Cyber ββSecurity Representative John Suffolk recently stated, βAll of our 5G equipment is no longer dependent on the US. We would like to continue using American components. It would be good for both US industry and Huawei, but we have no choice.β
However, Huawei cannot easily replace a US supplier like Google. The company is unable to license Android to use Google Play Services. This means that her new smartphones cannot legally run Google's main Android apps such as the Play Store, Search, Gmail, Maps, and so on.
Source: 3dnews.ru