On Wednesday, the Chinese semiconductor industry gained almost 2.5% on speculation that Huawei’s recently released Mate 60 Pro smartphone may have a 5G ready processor.
If confirmed, the announcement of a domestically produced 5G chip would be good news for China’s domestic semiconductor industry, which has enjoyed stock market gains of almost 8% so far this week.
Without any fanfare or publicity, Huawei quietly started selling the Mate 60 Pro at lunchtime today for 6,999 yuan ($960).
Huawei employees and shop clerks in Beijing and Shenzhen also reported being taken aback.
The Mate 60 was touted as having the capability of making satellite calls, however the specs gave no indication of the strength of the chipset within.
However, customers who were able to get their hands on the device have started sharing videos of themselves putting it through its paces, claiming that it can keep up with the network speeds of smartphones equipped with 5G chipsets.
Others have posted evidence that the phone is powered by the Kirin 9000s processor.
Huawei’s flagship smartphone.
Washington has, since 2019, prohibited Huawei from obtaining sophisticated semiconductors and software from US businesses, which has crushed its consumer electronics industry.
As a result of its difficulties, the firm has become a major source of tension between the United States and China.
Researchers stated last month that Huawei was planning to get back into the 5G smartphone business by buying chips made in the United States utilizing Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co (SMIC) technology and its own breakthroughs in semiconductor design tools.
The SMIC index gained around 10% this week.
Huawei did not respond to a request for information about the phone’s 5G capabilities, but the company did say in a statement that the Mate 60 series was the company’s most powerful Mate model to date.
Disambiguation is essential.
Shares of semiconductor company Sai MicroElectronics Inc, which has business relations with Huawei, were purchased by individual investor Lu Deyong after the release of the new Huawei phone, he claimed, as well as the technology-focused STAR 50 Index.
According to Lu, “Shares rose and I saw that large sums of money flowed in,” indicating a positive reception of the launch and the underlying technology. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing whether this technology is legitimate.
Given the high degree of market interest, Canalys Senior VP of Mobility Nicole Peng said it was vital for Huawei to offer clarity on their technologies.
Huawei’s R&D skills have taken a giant leap forward if the company is, in fact, capable of developing its own 5G SoC (system-on-chip) ahead of the industry’s current development plan. She said, “This will have a profound effect on the semi industry, especially on its rivals.”
However, Huawei’s reputation may be harmed in the long term due to skepticism about its capacity to create 5G SoC and its lack of specificity over the product and its release. If the allegations are untrue, the trend might reverse.