The U.S. is looking for every loophole that can help Huawei in the advanced chipmaking process. A recent report said that the Biden administration may soon add more Chinese firms to the Entity list, blocking the growth of the chip network in China.

Apart from keeping an eye on China, the U.S. is now investigating other foreign suppliers who can lend a hand to Huawei in semiconductor manufacturing.

Inputs reveal that the U.S. Commerce Department started probing TSMC for chip dealings with Huawei. The investigation is in the early stages and aims to check if the chipmaker has been making any AI or phone chips for Huawei for the time being.

If TSMC is found breaching the U.S. export regulations, it might face huge penalties or even a prohibition on using advanced chipmaking tools or techs temporarily.

Under this investigation, the U.S. authorities have targeted the Mate 60 series’ Kirin 5G 9000s chip and recently developed AI Ascend processor. Both these chipsets significantly contribute to China’s progress in the semiconductor industry.

The Commerce Department inquired TSMC about having any direct or indirect (via different names) chip shipments to Huawei in the past or at present. Investigators are also looking into other related aspects like “know-your-customer checks”.

Issues for TSMC

Further details note that the investigation could trouble TSMC to some extent. The Taiwanese chipmaker is one of the key chipset suppliers for U.S. firms.

Huawei AI chipsets (Image Credits: Huawei)

For instance, Apple and Nvidia mainly rely on TSMC for their processors. Also, the Biden administration was planning a $6.6 billion subsidy for the chipmaker to develop its third fabrication unit in Arizona. However, an investigation could halt benefits for some time.

TSMC responded to this investigation and said that it follows all the U.S. export regulations without fail. Although if there is a problem, then it will take action to guarantee compliance in all possible aspects.

“TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are committed to complying with all applicable regulations. If we have any reason to believe there are issues, we will take prompt action to ensure compliance.”

HuaweiCentral’s Take

The U.S. will try every effort to push back Huawei as done in 2019. But this time, the Chinese OEM is focusing on being self-reliant. A recent report claimed that Huawei Kirin 7nm chip performance can match the level of the 5nm processor of TSMC.

How far the U.S. will stretch this investigation on TSMC chip dealings with Huawei would be worth looking forward to.

U.S. investigates TSMC on chip dealings with Huawei (Image Credits: Huawei/TSMC)

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Huawei is unable to access high-end chipmaking tools due to U.S. sanctions. Now the foreign authorities are planning more challenges for the company in semiconductor manufacturing. They are pressing Biden to impose more restrictions.

Chairman John Moolenaar and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi – the members of the House Select Committee on strategic conflicts between the U.S. and China, recently wrote a letter to Gina Raimondo (Commerce Secretary) on Chinese tech progress concerns.

The letter highlights that the Biden administration should increase export controls to block Huawei’s secretive chip network growth. The “clandestine semiconductor facilities” of Huawei will ultimately harm U.S. security on a large scale.

“…Just as you have taken steps to prohibit Huawei from purchasing U.S. chips, it is similarly important and logical to restrict the flow of SME to prevent Huawei from fabricating its chips. Restricting the flow… will send an important signal to… Huawei that the United States will take action to prevent U.S. technology from enabling its problematic technology ambitions.” (via)

According to Bloomberg, Huawei is currently teaming up with Pengxinxu, SwaySure Technology, and Qingdao SiEn to expand its chip network. These firms are free from U.S. restrictions and do not count in the Entity list.

US lawmakers urge tougher restrictions on Huawei chip tech: Report (Image Credits: Huawei)

Huawei also collaborated with the PXW Semiconductor to accelerate its chipmaking process. But later, the U.S. added the respective firm to the entity list, prohibiting it from accessing advanced technologies. Now they are planning the same treatment for the above-mentioned firms to block ways for Huawei.

The Commerce Department has said to respond on this matter soon with their appropriate mediums.

Huawei launched a 7nm chip last year which belongs to the SMIC foundry. Since then, the U.S. started eyeing the OEM for every step it takes in chipmaking.

The U.S. authorities canceled the licenses of many foreign semiconductor firms from selling chipsets or chipmaking equipment to Huawei. ASML is one of the major examples of this aspect. Now lawmakers are urging to ban 120+ Chinese companies and impose fresh restrictions on chip tool sales in China.

Apart from its own efforts, the U.S. is pressuring its neighboring countries to impose the same restrictions on China. Although they didn’t show much interest.

How Huawei will make its steps more firm in the chip tech field amid these US restrictions and export problems would be worth looking forward to.

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RUNTO Technology published its analysis on Chinese smart TV shipments for Q3 2024. The report described that China’s TV sector is seeing a major decline this time, compared to the last year same period. It has dropped by 6.6% in sales.

The market has sold 8.115 million branded TV sets in the third quarter of 2024, which isn’t a good reach. Combining the TV sales of all three quarters this year, the shipments decreased by 5% year-on-year (24.505 million units sold in three quarters).

Despite a decline, Huawei has been the best performer in Q3 2024 Chinese smart TV shipments. The company sold around 300000 units in the last quarter.

This is ultimately an increase of 50% YoY in the company’s smart TV sales. RUNTO analysts mentioned that Huawei offline stores have sold the most number of smart TVs as of September. The sales have contributed to substantial growth this year.

Apart from Huawei, the report ranks seven brands as the top TV vendors in China. These are Hisense, Xiaomi, TCL, Skyworth, Changhong, Konka, and Haier.

Huawei smart TV shipments increased by 50% in Q3 2024: Report (Image Credits: CNMO)

The combined sales share of all eight rankers reached 96.1%. Huawei is at the top while Xiaomi ranked second in this listing. TCL is showing in the third spot.

Foreign brands like Sony, Samsung, and Philips are also lagging in this race. They scored a combined market share of less than 5% and struggling to rise in the market.

Huawei has recently launched new smart TV models one after the other in the Chinese market. The latest one is the Smart TV V5 Max 110-inch which delivers a theatre-like feel to users. The device supports HarmonyOS 4.5 and various other features.

• Read More: Huawei unveils Smart TV V5 Max 110-inch with HarmonyOS 4.5

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The network operator earlier announced to deploy 3000 Open RAN (Radio Access Network) sites by the end of 2026. But this week, the firm showed a sign of delay in this task. The goal achievement time has now shifted to 2027e (e = estimate).

Another interesting point is, it’s still unclear how Nokia and Fujitsu techs will fit in the Deutsche Telekom core network. Last year, Nokia had said to remove its rival (Huawei) in Germany. However, Huawei’s replacement is taking new turns day by day.

LightReading further notes that Deutsche Telekom never actually wanted to rip or replace Huawei from its core network. The company stated that it would require a lot of effort and skills to replace Huawei and that won’t be that easy to process.

Open-RAN: A Backup plan?

It seems Deutsche Telekom Open RAN is a backup plan to comply with government norms and use Huawei equipment to some extent. An early report showed that only a few countries are taking the EU’s statement seriously to ban Chinese equipment.

Meanwhile, a delay from German telecoms shows that they aren’t much interested in following along with the “rip and replace” program. Unlike the UK, German authorities demand replacing Huawei only as a core network products supplier.

Deutsche Telekom delays Open RAN till 2027 for Huawei 5G: Report (Image Credits: Huawei)

Deutsche also hopes that it can use its in-house network techs for the Huawei RAN management system without pulling off Huawei’s base stations. The telecom believes this plan is an O-RAN solution for critical vendor risk issues. Yet, it won’t be correct technically.

According to the report, Huawei RAN and Deutsche Telekom’s SMO can combine and qualify for Open RAN sites. On the other hand, tech makers like Nokia and Fujitsu either have to replace Huawei by their own efforts or develop new sites for their progress in the O-RAN network technology.

The rip-and-replace program for Huawei in Germany is constantly taking turns. While the authorities are trying to adhere to the UK ban and related restrictions, it is quite difficult to remove Huawei completely. Let’s see how this task proceeds.

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A few early teardowns have shown that Pura 70 series uses more Chinese parts than previous Huawei phones. The standard variant possesses nearly 33 China-made components, which is the highest number to date. Read the full details HERE.

Now TechInsights revealed that the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra has advanced 5G radio architecture. It says that the OEM imposed improved RF parts on the device.

RF Components:

RF (radio-frequency) components are the basic parts that operate a device. These elements manage filtering, amplifying, mixing, and modulating signals. Simply put these help in transmitting/receiving radio signals between two devices.

TechInsights states that the Pura 70 Ultra shows the company’s progress in cutting-edge technologies for its devices. And the 5G radio design is no exception to this theory. The report also mentions that the Pura model has a few similar RF parts to the Mate 60 series handsets. Some of these are given in the image below.

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra has cutting-edge 5G radio architecture: TechInsights (Image Credits: MyDrivers)

Notably, all components mentioned in the list are made in China. The main manufacturers of these parts are HiSilicon, China Electronics Group, and Onmicro.

Apart from components, certain features of the Pura 70 Ultra are also running on Chinese components. For instance, the satellite features by Beidou and Tiantong are possible due to the MSC06A MSS chip and a HiSilicon processor.

These enhancements reflect Huawei’s progress towards self-reliance. The company is ditching foreign components for its devices. It aims to support native suppliers and enrich its creations with self-developed elements over the U.S.-based parts.

A recent input said that the Huawei Mate 70 series will have more Chinese components than the Pura 70 models. Things will get clear after the official unveiling of the upcoming flagship.

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CINNO Research has released a new report entitled “After 46 months, Huawei Chinese smartphone sales exceeded Apple again in August 2024.” The report reveals the current status of the smartphone market in China and the top rankers.

The report highlights the overview of the smartphone market based on the monthly development trend in September 2024. It covers the sales volume, brand analysis, and the top smartphone brand that has been on the top in the last few months.

Inputs reveal that Huawei has given a tough fight to the Apple iPhone sales in China after 46 months. The company’s market share in the Chinese high-end smartphones (above 6000 yuan) has been gradually increasing due to new creations.

Huawei outshined Apple in Chinese smartphone sales this year: CINNO (Image Credits: ITHome)

Huawei’s sharp rise in market share is ultimately putting more pressure on Apple. The US tech giant is already declining in the Chinese phone market. Meanwhile, heavy competition from Chinese rivals is pushing Apple further back in the ranking.

Mate 60 series launched last year, resulted in immense popularity – thanks to the Kirin 5G chip and the satellite calling feature. The previous-gen models led to booming sales which once again increased the brand’s value in the Chinese smartphone business.

After four years of hustles, Huawei topped the Chinese smartphone market in Q1 2024 with a sales increase of 110% YoY. The report further states that the company won the tag of No.1 in H1 2024 Chinese smartphone sales with a market share of 17.5%.

Huawei has also launched new phones like Pocket 2, Pura 70 series, and Nova Flip which increased the company’s sales revenue this year. Also, the Mate 70 series is in the pipeline and expected to add a new hike in the brand’s sales section.

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Luxshare Precision is a Chinese electronics manufacturer. It provides tech makers with essential components for devices. The company is one of the major suppliers of Apple for its smartwatches, iPhones, AirPods, and HomePods.

It seems the Luxshare Precision is now expanding its supplier business for Huawei wearables. According to a new report, Luxshare is planning a huge investment to build production facilities for both Apple and Huawei smartwatch products.

The Chinese supplier may soon invest $150 million in Nghe An, Vietnam. It aims to lay new production lines in Southeast Asia that can boost the development of wearables for Apple and Huawei. The other details on this matter are unknown.

Luxshare has been planning the investment for a long time. Apart from the wearables, it may also establish production facilities for Apple’s handset to become the second-largest iPhone assembler after the Taiwanese Kunshan plant.

Luxshare to reportedly increase Huawei smartwatch production (Image Credits: Huawei/X)

Huawei Smartwatches

Huawei continues to appear as a top rival in the smartwatch market. The company has recently unveiled several wrist gadgets like the Watch GT 5 series, Watch D2, and Watch Ultimate Green Edition in the global market with interesting features.

On the other hand, it introduced a new TruSense health system that bears advanced sensors to detect the precise health of an individual and offer accurate reports within seconds. This tracking capability makes Huawei wearables a powerful opponent against its rivals in the Chinese and global markets.

The Chinese OEM may tie hands with the Apple iPhone assembler – Luxshare in the time ahead to increase its smartwatch production in the respective region.

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LightReading learned that the US ban on Huawei 5G network equipment did not affect the company much. Despite huge struggles, the company’s sales in the 5G products department increased by a tenth last year with a net profit hike of 145%.

Notably, these rates are ‘far ahead’ of its main rivals like Ericsson and Nokia. A major credit goes to Huawei’s new strategies in the network solutions field. The company diversified into new businesses and remained highly competitive in the network arena.

Huawei’s MIMO consists of top-of-the-range antennas and is one of the most advanced 5G techs. It is a “generation ahead” of Ericsson’s best products, as per the report.

The MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) appears as lighter equipment that reduces pressure on masts and can easily be transferred to different places. Seeing such advanced 5G network technologies, an executive of a foreign company said:

“US sanctions have not had a noticeable impact on Huawei’s technology competitiveness.”

Another source of the latest report cites that Huawei seemed using TSMC-stocked chips for its network operators. But that couldn’t be a long-term thing. The company has already proved that it can use an advanced 7nm chip for its base stations.

Huawei 5G equipment didn’t face major impact of US ban, says report (Image Credits: Huawei)

AI and smartphone chips seem an area where Huawei has to make more efforts. But other than that, the company already appears self-reliant in many tech fields.

The US authorities tried to pull off Huawei and finish its existence in the 5G market. It thought of treating Huawei just like ZTE and other Chinese tech vendors.

ZTE faced critical conditions after the U.S. sanctions. It nearly went out of business a few years back. However, the case is quite different and positive on Huawei’s side.

The Chinese tech giant struggled initially following the U.S. restrictions on its 5G network equipment. The “rip and replace” program is still in action across various countries and regions. Yet, the company is now doing great in the network section.

On the other hand, foreign telecoms are searching for alternatives to Huawei’s network equipment. Germany, for instance, has given a lot of time (till 2029) to its telecom operators to replace Huawei radio access network and work on their network management.

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ByteDance is a Chinese IT company and the developer of the famous video-sharing platforms: TikTok and Douyin. It also makes large language models like Doubao.

Now a new input says that ByteDance is planning to develop another AI LLM model using Huawei Ascend 910B chips. The news is yet to be confirmed by the company. However, the current ordered chips figure shows that the IT firm may choose Huawei over Nvidia.

Yes, ByteDance has already purchased more than 100000 Huawei Ascend 910B AI chips this year. Due to tight supply and production challenges, the IT company has received 30% of the order as of July 2024. Huawei may soon deliver the left-out order.

Further details state that ByteDance has opted for the Huawei AI chips as an alternative to the Nvidia H20 chips. Following the U.S. restrictions, Nvidia has to serve Chinese firms with low-efficient chips that are good enough to perform but aren’t very reliable. As a result, the Chinese companies turned towards native suppliers.

Companies like ByteDance hope that Huawei and its AI techs are perfect. Even though the Ascend 910B chips aren’t as advanced as Nvidia’s chips. But their performance level and efficiency are far better than the A100 processors (20% more efficient).

On the other hand, using Ascend AI chips will ultimately reduce China’s dependency on foreign chipmakers like Nvidia. Huawei is also making efforts to enhance its chip production and become more efficient in the semiconductor industry.

ByteDance ordered 100000 Huawei Ascend 910B chips to replace Nvidia (Image Credits: Huawei)

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As noted by Bloomberg, Chinese regulators directed local firms and enterprise customers to prohibit Nvidia H20 usage. The H20 is a China-specific chip. It’s a special but low-end version of the Nvidia H800. The chip is used to train AI models.

Following the U.S. ban, Chinese companies relied on Nvidia’s chipsets for AI models and other related technologies. However, China now aims to support its native techs and firms over U.S. products, increasing its self-reliance and economic growth.

Inputs reveal that Chinese regulators like the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a set of new rules under ‘window guidance’. It encourages the firms to switch to local chipmakers and reduce the Nvidia use as far as possible.

Huawei and Cambricon are currently the top AI chipmakers in China. A direct prohibition of Nvidia chips in the region will ultimately help the native chip producers to increase their market share. The aim is to support native AI startups over foreign firms.

People related to the matter say that it’s not possible to completely ban Nvidia chips in the region. Many companies are looking to develop the best AI system which requires foreign processors instead of local options. But the condition is that the Nvidia chips’ usage should be minimal.

Another input notes that Nvidia shares fell to 3.9% ($119.26) by Friday. When asked to the CEO of Nvidia – Jensen Huang about the entire matter, he said:

“The first thing we have to do is comply with whatever policies and regulations that are being imposed. And, meanwhile, do the best we can to compete in the markets that we serve. We have a lot of customers there that depend on us, and we’ll do our best to support them.”

While Chinese chipmakers are readying alternatives to Nvidia’s chips, local companies are stockpiling foreign chips before the U.S. export controls reach a new level. For instance, ByteDance ordered 200000+ Nvidia H20 chips this year worth $2 billion.

Huawei, on the other hand, is also taking major steps in this matter. After months of internal testing, the company is now sending its Ascend 910C AI chip samples to top tech firms, expanding its strength in the AI chip sector. Read More…

It would be worth seeing how the next-gen Huawei AI chips will counterattack Nvidia H20 processors.

China directs local firms to buy Huawei AI chips over Nvidia H20 (Image Credits: Huawei)

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