Analysts: New Huawei Mobile Reveals Significant Progress in Chip Development

Huawei Technologies and Chinese chip manufacturer Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) have produced a 7-nanometer processor and integrated it into a new mobile phone model, revealing significant progress in chip development, analysts have determined.

The processor is embedded in the new Huawei mobile Mate 60 Pro, powered by the new Kirin 9000s chip produced by SMIC in China, as shown by a test from Canadian research firm TechInsights.

Huawei launched the Mate 60 Pro for sale last week, with specifications highlighting the capability for satellite calls. Information regarding the power of the embedded chipset was not provided.

The processor utilizes SMIC’s most sophisticated 7-nanometer technology and suggests that the Chinese government’s attempts to build a domestic chip ecosystem are yielding results, TechInsights emphasized.

The test results were first reported by Bloomberg News. Huawei and SMIC did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Phone buyers in China are posting videos and sharing on social media speed test results indicating that the data transfer of the Mate 60 Pro is faster than that of top-tier 5G phones, Reuters notes.

‘Cloud’ in Saudi Arabia

The Chinese tech giant separately opened a cloud data center in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, earlier this week, which will enable it to expand its online service offerings in the Middle East and North Africa.

The cloud data center in Riyadh, Huawei’s thirtieth worldwide, will support Saudi government services and enable applications based on artificial intelligence and language models in Arabic, a Huawei representative said at a briefing.

– Establishing Huawei’s cloud is not only for us, but will simultaneously be a bridge that will bring other Chinese companies to Saudi Arabia – said the company’s regional president Steven Yi.

Saudi Arabia has warned that starting next year, it will no longer sign contracts with foreign companies that do not have a regional headquarters in the kingdom, Reuters reports.

Huawei ranked fifth in the global cloud services market in the first quarter, with a market share of 2.4 percent, according to research consultancy Canalys.