Qualcomm says the reentry of Huawei Kirin chip won’t affect its business with Chinese phone makers

While forecasting first-quarter sales and profit above Wall Street targets on Wednesday, Qualcomm also commented on the reentry of Huawei into the chip business.

On a conference call, Qualcomm CEO, Christiano Amon said that he does not expect Huawei’s return to the market to affect its relationship with Chinese smartphone companies. On the other hand, Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala estimated a 35% quarter-over-quarter increase in sales to Chinese smartphone customers.

Back in August, Huawei released a new flagship phone – the Huawei Mate 60 Pro featuring a new chipset. The chipset is developed by HiSilicon and produced by China’s SMIC, reveals a teardown report. Later on, the chipset is identified as Kirin 9000s via the phone specifications application on the mobile. Also, it’s an advanced chip reportedly processed with 7nm technology.

Until 2019, Huawei used to print its own chipset design via Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest chipset manufacturer. However, the subsequent US ban on the tech maker made it give up on new chipset production. In 2020, Huawei announced the end of its premium Kirin project.

However, Qualcomm obtained a license from the US Export Control Department but there was a catch, the chip maker could only ship 4G chips to Huawei, while it doesn’t have a solution to enable 5G network in its new devices.

Thereafter, all of the flagship and non-flagship phones including Huawei P50 Pro, Mate 50 Pro, P60 Pro, and Nova series models launched with Qualcomm mobile processors.

However, the Mate 60 Pro changed the game for Huawei because it brings a new solution that has 5G network access. This led to a massive discussion among Chinese consumers and making good sales for Huawei.

The reentry of Huawei in the chip business is very crucial progress but it is not competing with Qualcomm or selling its current design to any other Chinese phone makers.

(source)