Huawei Plans to Make its own Chips to Skirt US Sanctions
Huawei's plan B: Making its own chips
Huawei has been waiting on the U.S to lessen its trade restrictions, but it seems the company has finally given up on that. The Chinese tech giant now plans to build its own chip-making plant without using American technology, the newest strategy to overcome the US sanctions, the Financial Times reports.
Plans are already underway according to the magazine citing people familiar with the matter. The chipmaking plant will be run by the Shanghai IC R&D Center, which the report reveals is a chip research company backed by the Shanghai Municipal government. This is because Huawei has no experience in making chips.
The company will reportedly start the process by manufacturing the 45nm low-end chips, which will act as an experiment.
Huawei plans to start making chips for its IoT devices by the end of 2021 using the 28nm node. The 28nm chips will also power the company’s TV line.
And by late 2022, the company plans to start producing chips based on the 20nm node that will power their 5G telecom equipment.
For a start, the plant will not help salvage Huawei’s smartphone business. The company’s smartphones require more advanced, powerful processors to compete effectively. For instance, Huawei’s latest Mate 40 series phones are fitted with supposedly the last generation of its in-house Kirin 9000 chips fabricated using the 5nm node.
The Financial Times noted that the project was first reported in a local newspaper last month, but Huawei didn’t respond to their request for comment.
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