HiSilicon: Huawei wants to rebuild chip division “US-free” in China

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Huawei wants to start up its own chip production again with the help of Chinese partners. The division, weakened by US sanctions, is to focus on chips and components for mobile communications equipment instead of smartphones. According to Nikkei Asia, JHICC and NSI are considered important partners for “US-free” production lines.

With HiSilicon, Huawei had one of the most modern chip divisions in the world before the US sanctions, which initially affected software but later also hardware. However, HiSilicon was dependent on production in Taiwan at TSMC, and many technologies were used that are now on the US sanctions list and can therefore no longer be used. New Kirin chipsets have therefore not been available for a long time and for many other components Huawei has to rely on previously stored goods or adapted off-the-shelf chips. Qualcomm, for example, is allowed to supply Huawei, but it has to do without 5G, so that even the latest flagships have to do without the standard.

JHICC and NSI should become important partners

According to Nikkei Asia, Huawei now wants to rebuild its own chip division, but in mainland China and with partners based there and free of US technologies or sanctioned components. The group is focusing on the production of chips, RF components and analog high-voltage components, especially for the network division, i.e. the area of ​​the company that manufactures equipment for network operators. One partner for this project is the Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. (JHICC) in the Fujian province of the same name. Another partner is Ningbo Semiconductor International (NSI), which emerged from the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) investment fund. Discussions with smaller, state-subsidized manufacturers in Shenzhen and other regions are also planned.

Huawei is said to have redesigned the production of specially developed components that were previously manufactured in more modern nodes, for example at TSMC, so that the components can also be produced in older nodes that are available in China. In addition to components for mobile communications equipment, Huawei's automotive division is said to have high priority when it comes to “restarting” its own chip division.

Partner not without problems

At JHICC, production lines originally planned for DRAM production are to be converted for the production of processors and logic chips. JHICC had to scrap plans for DRAM manufacturing after the company ended up on the US government sanctions list in late 2018 for allegations of technology theft from Micron.

NSI is said to be partners for the production of RF components and high-voltage components for the network and automotive sectors. However, a problem for Huawei in the production of these critical components could be that SMIC is still on the United States' sanctions list due to alleged connections to the Chinese military and can therefore only operate in a modern way to a limited extent.