Struggling Huawei runs out of advanced in-house-designed chips for smartphones amid US trade sanctions, Counterpoint report says

Huawei’s inventory of smartphone chips designed by semiconductor unit HiSilicon reached zero in the third quarter, according to a Counterpoint report

The Chinese tech giant has struggled to get advanced new chips made by major semiconductor foundries because of tightened US restrictions

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Huawei Technologies Co has struggled to get new in-house-designed smartphone chips made by major semiconductor foundries because of tightened US trade sanctions. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:00pm, 21 Dec 2022Updated: 9:37pm, 21 Dec 2022

Huawei Technologies Co has finally run out of in-house-designed semiconductors for its smartphones after US trade sanctions effectively cut the company’s access to advanced new chips, according to a report by Counterpoint Research.

Shenzhen-based Huawei, which briefly surpassed Samsung Electronics to lead global smartphone shipments in early 2020, has struggled to get new in-house-designed integrated circuits (ICs) manufactured by a major chip foundry after Washington tightened trade restrictions in August 2020, covering the firm’s access to semiconductors developed or produced using US technology, from anywhere.

Privately-held Huawei and chip design arm HiSilicon were added to the US government’s trade blacklist, known as the Entity List, in 2019. At the time, HiSilicon said it had a backup plan to ensure the group’s survival, while research firms Haitong and Canalys indicated that Huawei had been stockpiling critical US components for almost a year.

“Based on our checks and sell-through data, Huawei has finished its inventory of HiSilicon chipsets,” Counterpoint said in its latest report on global smartphone application processor market share.

Huawei Technologies Co has struggled to obtain advanced new chips for its smartphones because of tightened US trade sanctions. Photo: Simon Song

HiSilicon’s share of the global smartphone application market this year reached zero in the third quarter, down from 0.4 per cent in the previous quarter and 3 per cent in the second quarter of last year.

The report added that it was “not possible” for Huawei to obtain advanced new ICs from major contract chip makers, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co or Samsung, because of the tightened US restrictions.

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Struggling Huawei runs out of advanced in-house-designed chips for smartphones amid US trade sanctions, Counterpoint report says

Huawei’s inventory of smartphone chips designed by semiconductor unit HiSilicon reached zero in the third quarter, according to a Counterpoint report The Chinese tech giant has struggled to get advanced new chips made by major semiconductor foundries because of tightened US restrictions

Huawei’s inventory of smartphone chips designed by semiconductor unit HiSilicon reached zero in the third quarter, according to a Counterpoint report

The Chinese tech giant has struggled to get advanced new chips made by major semiconductor foundries because of tightened US restrictions