The latest report released by market research firm Counterpoint shows that after the US government effectively cut off Huawei’s access to advanced chips, Huawei has run out of smartphone chips designed by its subsidiary HiSilicon.
The South China Morning Post reported that Huawei and HiSilicon were blacklisted from US trade in 2019, when HiSilicon said it had a backup plan to ensure the group’s survival. Research groups Haitong and Canalys also said that Huawei has been hoarding key components in the US for nearly a year.
Today, Counterpoint’s report shows that both the audit findings and sales rate data indicate that Huawei has sold out of its inventory of HiSilicon-designed mobile phone chips. HiSilicon’s share of the global smartphone application market in Q3 was dead at less than 0.4% in Q2 and not as good as 3% in Q2 last year.
The report states in no uncertain terms that due to the expansion of the scope of the restrictions by the US government, it is impossible for Huawei to withdraw from TSMC (2330-TW), Samsung and other major wafer foundries have obtained new advanced chips.
According to Counterpoint, HiSilicon accounted for 16% of the global chipset market in Q2 2020 before Washington stepped up sanctions, thanks to the adoption of HiSilicon’s advanced Kirin chips in Huawei smartphones.
A report released by research firm Gartner in April also showed that HiSilicon fell out of the list of top 25 semiconductor suppliers in the world, which also reduced China’s share in the global chip market, highlighting the impact of the restrictions. US commercial.
The low supply of Kirin chips has led to continued pressure on Huawei’s smartphone business. In September, hit by US sanctions, the company launched a new flagship smartphone from the Mate 50 series that does not support 5G.
Huawei, once the country’s largest smartphone maker, is losing market share in China’s domestic market. According to Canalys data, the company was still not among the top five mobile phone brands in China in the last quarter, the top five are Vivo, Oppo, Honor, Apple (AAPL-USA) and Xiaomi (01810-HK)。
