Embrace the Future: Huawei’s Resurgence with 5G Phones post US Ban

Three third-party technology research firms covering China’s smartphone industry told Reuters that Huawei should be able to acquire 5G processors domestically using its own advancements in semiconductor design tools and chip production by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co (SMIC).

Because of confidentiality agreements with customers, the companies are only able to speak under the condition of anonymity when quoting industry sources. These industry sources include Huawei suppliers.

Huawei refused to comment on the matter. A request for comment was sent to SMIC, but they did not provide a response.

It has been over three years since the company admitted that it was in “survival” mode, so making a comeback to the 5G phone industry would be considered a win for the business. The income generated by Huawei’s consumer division reached its all-time high of 483 billion yuan ($67 billion) in 2020, before plunging by over 50 percent the following year.

The Shenzhen-based technology giant formerly competed with Apple and Samsung to be the world’s largest handset manufacturer. However, beginning in 2019, it will be subject to a series of US limitations that would limit its access to chipmaking tools, which are required for the production of its most advanced models.

The governments of the United States and Europe have called Huawei a security concern, which is an accusation that the business vigorously denies. Since then, Huawei has only sold restricted batches of 5G models utilizing processors that were previously stored.

When sales reached a low point last year, Huawei plummeted from most rankings worldwide. However, the company rose to a tenth of the market in China in the first quarter, according to the consultancy Canalys, despite being stuck selling 4G handsets from the previous generation.

One of the research companies stated that it anticipated Huawei will adopt SMIC’s N+1 manufacturing method. However, due to the fact that it is anticipated that the production rate of usable chips will be lower than 50%, 5G shipments will be limited to somewhere between 2 million and 4 million units. Another company estimated that freight could reach 10 million units, although they could not provide any other information.

According to Canalys, Huawei had its best year ever in 2019, shipping 240.6 million handsets all over the world. This was before the company sold its Honor subsidiary, which accounted for over a fifth of total shipments in that year.

It was claimed earlier this month by the state-backed China Securities Daily newspaper that Huawei has increased its mobile shipping target for 2023 to 40 million units, up from 30 million at the beginning of the year. However, the article did not reference a return to 5G phones.

Check Out: Huawei Bypasses US Sanctions By Redesigning 13,000 Components & 4000 Circuit boards.