Huawei’s latest high-end phone uses more Chinese suppliers, including a new flash memory storage chip and an upgraded processor, according to a teardown analysis, reflecting China’s progress toward technological self-sufficiency.
Online repair company iFixit and consultancy TechSearch International examined the interior of Huawei Technologies’ Pura 70 Pro for Reuters. They found a NAND memory chip that they say was likely packaged by the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker’s internal HiSilicon unit, along with several other components made by Chinese suppliers.
These results have not been reported previously.
Huawei’s resurgence in the high-end smartphone market after four years of U.S. sanctions is widely watched by U.S. rivals and politicians as it has become a symbol of growing trade frictions between the United States and China and the China’s desire to be self-sufficient in technology.
The companies also found that the Pura 70 phones run on an advanced processing chipset made by Huawei, called Kirin 9010, which is likely just a slightly improved version of the advanced chipset made in China and used by the Mate 60 series of Huawei.
“While we can’t provide an exact percentage, we would say that the use of domestic components is high, and certainly higher than in the Mate 60,” said Shahram Mokhtari, iFixit’s lead technician responsible for the teardown.
“It’s about self-sufficiency, all of that, everything that you see when you open a smartphone and you see that everything is made by Chinese manufacturers, it’s about self-sufficiency,” Mokhtari said.
Huawei did not wish to comment.
Huawei launched the four Pura 70 smartphone models at the end of April and the series sold out quickly. Analysts say Huawei is likely to take market share from iPhone maker Apple, while policymakers in Washington question the effectiveness of U.S. curbs on the tech giant. telecommunications equipment.
FLASH MEMORY CHIP MADE IN CHINA
Previous analyzes of the Mate 60, launched in August last year, by teardown companies such as TechInsights, revealed that the phone used DRAM and NAND chips made by South Korean company SK Hynix. SK Hynix said at the time it was no longer doing business with Huawei and analysts said the chips likely came from inventory.
The Pura 70 still contains a DRAM chip made by SK Hynix, iFixit and TechSearch found, but the NAND flash memory chip was likely packaged by Huawei’s HiSilicon unit this time around and consisted of NAND dies of a capacity of 1 terabit each. This capacity is comparable to products from major flash memory manufacturers such as SK Hynix, Kioxia and Micron.
However, the companies were not able to positively identify the wafer manufacturer because the markings on the NAND die were unfamiliar, they added. But iFixit added that it believes HiSilicon may also have produced the memory controller.
“During our teardown, our chip identification expert identified a particular HiSilicon chip,” Mokhtari said.
SK Hynix reiterated that it has “strictly complied with relevant policies since the announcement of the restrictions imposed on Huawei and has also suspended all transactions with the company since then.”
PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENTS
Analysis by IFixit and TechSearch of the processor used by the Pura 70 Pro also suggests that Huawei has only been able to gradually improve its ability to produce an advanced chip with Chinese partners in the months since the launch of the Mate series 60.
The processor is similar to the one used in the Mate 60 series that was produced for Huawei by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) using the Chinese founder’s 7-nanometer (nm) N+2 manufacturing process, they said.
“This is important because news of the 9000S on a 7nm node caused some panic last year when US lawmakers faced the possibility that sanctions on Chinese chipmakers might not slow down. their technological advancements after all,” iFixit said.
“The fact that the 9010 is still a 7nm processor, and that it is so close to the 9000S, could suggest that Chinese chip manufacturing has indeed been slowed down.”
However, he cautions against underestimating Huawei, saying SMIC is still expected to move to a 5nm manufacturing node before the end of the year.
SMIC did not respond to a request for comment.
