While Huawei no longer has the right to collaborate directly with its semiconductor supplier, TSMC, it could do so indirectly if Qualcomm manages to obtain a special license from the United States government.
Huawei’s Kirin 990 chip // Source: Geoffroy Husson
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In the field of processors for smartphones, we know Samsung which develops its Exynos chips, but most of the other other models, whether Snapdragon from Qualcomm or Kirin from Huawei, are in fact manufactured by TSMC, a founder Taiwanese.
It is precisely this partnership between TSMC and Huawei that is at the center of many challenges for the future of the Chinese manufacturer of smartphones. Indeed, at the request of the American government, TSMC has now no longer the right to collaborate with Huawei in the manufacture of its smartphone chips Hisilicon Kirin brand, a measure that was confirmed this Thursday by the Taiwanese founder.
TSMC will no longer supply semiconductors to Huawei after September 14
As reported by the Japanese site Nikkei, TSMC has indeed indicated “To have suspended the acquisition of new orders from its key customer Huawei to comply with American export regulations”. So it’s been two months since TSMC did not take new orders from Huawei, since May 15 more precisely as indicated by the chairman of the board of directors of TSMC, Mark liu. “We do not plan to send semiconductor wafers to Huawei after September 14”, also indicates the TSMC framework.
Concretely, this means that the two companies can therefore continue to work together, in particular to honor the contracts in progress, for another two months. However, by September 14, Huawei will necessarily have to find another supplier to supply the semiconductors necessary for the development of its mobile chips. This may pose problems for the next two high-end smartphones from the manufacturer, the Huawei Mate 40, expected at the end of the year, and the Huawei P50, which should be launched at the start of the year 2021.
Huawei could work with Qualcomm
As for American companies, one of the solutions for Huawei would be to work with a SoC manufacturer who can obtain a special license from the American administration. According to an analyst, this could be the case of Qualcomm, the American equipment supplier. If the latter does not directly manufacture its semiconductors – also passing through TSMC for this task – it would be likely to be granted a license by Washington, said John Vinh of KeyBanc Capital last May.
Mate 40 series with Kirin soc maybe china exclusive, Huawei will follow Samsung in terms of dual chip strategy due to the new chip ban.????
— Teme (特米)???? (@RODENT950) July 17, 2020
As the leaker Treme, generally well informed on Huawei’s projects, we could thus have, at the end of the year, several versions of the Huawei Mate 40, with Kirin chips from Huawei, developed with TSMC, for the Chinese market, and Qualcomm Snapdragon chips for the rest of the world. The following year, for the P50 and Mate 50, Huawei should therefore go through a third-party supplier, whether it be Qualcomm Snapdragon chips or another founder like the Chinese Smic.
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