Huawei’s eyes are back on the 5G phone arena despite the US ban
David Ramos
Huawei Technologies plans to return to the 5G smartphone industry by the end of 2023, Reuters reported citing the research firm.
The move marked a return to the aftermath of the US ban on equipment sales which had a heavy impact on the Chinese company’s consumer electronics business.
Huawei should be able to source 5G chips locally using its own advances in semiconductor design tools, plus chip manufacturing from International Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (SMIC), the report says. added cited three third-party technology research firms covering the Asian country’s smartphone industry.
The Chinese company once competed with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF) to become the world’s biggest handset maker until US restrictions from 2019 started to curb its access to the chip manufacturing tools needed to produce the most advanced. model.
The US and EU governments accuse Huawei of being a security risk, which the company denies. Since then, the company has only sold a limited number of 5G models using stockpiled chips, the report added.
Huawei could make a 5G version of a flagship model like the iPhone P60 rival by 2023, with a new launch expected in early 2024, the three research firms noted, adding that they make such estimates on information received through checks with contacts in Huawei’s supply chain and recent company announcements.
US restrictions have removed Huawei from Google’s Android operating system and many of the developer services on which some Android apps are based. Thus limiting the appeal of Huawei phones outside of China.
In March, Huawei noted it had made a breakthrough in electronic design automation (EDA) tools for chips made with 14 nanometer (nm) technology and above.
The research firm, citing its own industry sources, thinks that Huawei’s EDA software can be used with SMIC’s N+1 production procedure to manufacture chips equivalent to 7 nm, the powerful semiconductors typically used in 5G mobile phones, according to the report.
