Huawei is seeking help from rival mobile-chip makers in order to withstand increased US sanctions against its suppliers, sources familiar with the matter told the Nikkei Asian Review. Huawei is in talks with Taiwan-based MediaTek and UNISOC, China's second-largest mobile chip designer after Huawei's HiSilicon, to buy more chips as alternatives to US-based Qualcomm.
MediaTek already supplies Huawei's mid- to low-end 4G smartphones, and Huawei hopes to secure contracts to buy also mid- to high-end 5G chips from MediaTek, two people familiar with the talks said. Huawei previously used only in-house chips for its high-end devices.
One source said Huawei started to work more with MediaTek already last year, in anticipation of increased US pressure. Huawei has also become one of the key clients for the Taiwanese developer's mid-end 5G mobile chip this year, the source said.
MediaTek is evaluating whether it has sufficient human resources to fully support Huawei's demand, as the Chinese company is asking for volume 300 percent above its usual procurement in the past few years, another source familiar with the talks said.
Huawei also seeks to deepen its collaboration with UNISOC, a Beijing-backed mobile chip developer that relies mostly on smaller device makers as customers and mainly supports entry-level products and devices for emerging markets. Previously, Huawei used very few UNISOC chips for its low-end smartphone and tablet offerings, sources said.The new procurement deals could help UNISOC further upgrade its chip design capability. UNISOC last year accelerated its 5G chip development to catch up with Qualcomm and MediaTek, the Nikkei has reported. More recently, the company received CNY 4.5 billion (USD 630 million) from China's national integrated circuit fund, the so-called Big Fund.
Huawei declined to comment.
