U.S. technology bullying is unpopular: Samsung is rumored to be discussing chip foundry with Huawei

C114 News on the evening of June 13, Beijing time (Jiang Junmu) One year after Huawei was included in the so-called “entity list”, the US government has once again upgraded its strangulation methods and tried to completely cut off Huawei’s chip supply by revising the direct product rules. Against this backdrop, according to a report from Phonearena, a well-known foreign digital technology media, Samsung and Huawei are exploring a blockbuster deal that will benefit both parties. The South Korean giant will manufacture advanced chips for Huawei’s 5G equipment in return. , Huawei will cede part of the global smartphone market share to Samsung. However, the veracity of this report has yet to be confirmed.

The report said that being placed on the “entity list” prevented Huawei from obtaining authorization for Google’s mobile services. Although this is not a big deal in China, its global users may also miss the Google App Store, Google Maps, Google Search, Gmail, etc. YouTube, etc. Huawei is trying to hurry up to build its own ecosystem, debuting with its P40 series this year. The company even launched its own Petal Search, a search tool that jumps to third-party web-based app stores that support downloads if a particular app isn’t available for download on Huawei’s AppGallery.

However, even under the high pressure of the supply cutoff in the United States, Huawei’s smartphone shipments reached 240 million units last year, surpassing Apple and second only to Samsung. According to the latest foreign media reports, Huawei led Samsung Electronics with a market share of 21.4% in April, reaching the top for the first time.

If Huawei has an Achilles’ heel, it’s its HiSilicon chip division, which relies on TSMC to manufacture cutting-edge chips. The report pointed out that under the new ban, TSMC may not be able to produce chips for Huawei from September. Huawei may have enough 5nm chips to make Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro phones, but what about Huawei starting next year’s P50? What’s more, as the world’s largest telecom equipment supplier, its 5G equipment also needs cutting-edge chips.

Some people have previously proposed the idea of ​​bypassing the new regulations, such as purchasing TSMC chips through MediaTek, but TSMC has stated that it will not allow this to happen. But Samsung may offer a completely legitimate solution for Huawei — the world’s second-largest independent chip foundry. The company has built a small production line to produce 7nm chips using only Japanese and European chipmaking equipment.

Dutch company ASML (ASML) has supplied Samsung with an EUV lithography machine that can produce tiny transistors on 7nm wafers. The machines used to test the chips can be purchased from Japan without the U.S. participating.

The report said that Samsung’s plan with Huawei is likely to work because Samsung is more dependent on the mobile phone business than Huawei, and Huawei’s core business is still telecommunications equipment.

Huawei also handed some chip foundry to China’s leading chipmaker semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). But the latter’s most advanced chips use a 14nm process, lagging behind TSMC. Although it hopes to produce 7nm chips by the end of this year, if it uses U.S. technology to produce chips, it must obtain a U.S. license before supplying Huawei.

In fact, America’s technological bullying will prompt the world to shun American technology and ultimately hurt its own interests.

“The revised rules are arrogant and industrially destructive,” Huawei said in a media statement on the new US regulations. The revision of the rules will not only affect Huawei, but will also have a serious impact on related industries around the world. In the long run, the trust foundation for global cooperation in industries such as chips will be destroyed, and conflicts and losses within the industry will be further intensified. The United States uses its own technological advantages to suppress other countries’ enterprises, which will inevitably weaken the confidence of other countries’ enterprises in using American technological elements, and ultimately hurt the interests of the United States itself.

This has also become the consensus of many media and analysts. In a recent blog post, Dr. Monica Paolini, founder and principal of Senza Fili Consulting, an expert in wireless technology, pointed out that in order to eliminate or minimize reliance on the United States , Chinese suppliers (and possibly others to do so first) will increase investment in R&D to develop technologies based on domestic intellectual property; if technological leadership is more dispersed across countries, regional ecosystems may emerge and geographic diversity expand Will increase competition for U.S. companies.

Strategy Analytics also published an industry insight titled “Sanctions on Huawei: Harming the Telecommunications Industry, the Global semiconductor Industry, and the U.S. Economy”, which pointed out that the new U.S. trade policy against Huawei has disrupted the relationship between the electronics industry and global trade. , posing a threat to the leadership of the U.S. semiconductor industry.

The Links:   MG15N6EK1   7MBR75VR120-50