Qualcomm said to end chip partnership with local government in China’s rural Guizhou province
- The HXT chip venture focuses on designing, developing, and selling sophisticated server chips
Huaxintong Semiconductor Technologies (HXT), a joint venture established in 2016 by US chip maker Qualcomm and China’s Guizhou government that specialises in making server chips, will be wound down by the end of April, according to a media report.
HXT executives said during internal meetings on Thursday that the company would shut down by April 30, The Information reported on Friday, citing 10 unnamed employees from with the venture, without elaborating on the reasons behind the decision.
Qualcomm declined to comment on the report. A media query sent to HXT’s official WeChat account did not receive an immediate reply. HXT’s official website does not list any contact information and local directory inquiries said a phone number for HXT is not registered.
China is on a drive to build leadership and more self-sufficiency in strategic technology areas as part of its wider “Made in China 2025” (MIC2025) policy plan. At the heart of the plan is the country’s semiconductor industry, in part because advances in chip technology can lead to breakthroughs in other areas of technology, handing the advantage to whoever has the best chips – an edge that currently is out of Beijing’s reach.
On Tuesday, Qualcomm announced it had settled its wide-ranging legal dispute with Apple by signing a six-year patent licensing deal and a supply agreement that could pave the way for getting its modem chips back into the iPhone. On the same day, Intel, which provided chips for Apple last year, announced that it would exit the 5G smartphone business and complete an assessment of the opportunities for existing 4G and 5G modems in PCs.
During the Qualcomm AI Open Day in Shenzhen on Friday, the US company announced its three latest AI chips, and demonstrated the latest use cases for its 5G and artificial intelligence-based technologies.