Huawei unveils Mate 90 with homegrown chips

Huawei's introduction of the Mate 90 series, powered by its Kirin 9050 Pro chip and HarmonyOS 7, represents an effort to navigate US export controls. The company's "LogicFolding" technique, described as restructuring a chip’s internal wiring in three dimensions, is presented as an alternative approach to enhance processor performance when access to cutting-edge chipmaking tools is limited. This method, however, is noted to require more wafers for production.

A key challenge for Huawei is the stated limitation in advanced semiconductor capacity within China. Richard Yu indicated that this constraint affects both smartphone and Ascend AI chip production, suggesting that while Huawei can innovate chip architecture, the underlying manufacturing capacity, reliant on deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography, remains a bottleneck. Eric Xu, Huawei’s rotating chairman, also noted that supply of Ascend 950 AI chips could not meet domestic demand due to these capacity issues.

Despite these manufacturing constraints, Huawei's smartphone shipments in China rose 13% year-on-year between January and August, according to IDC, even as the overall domestic market declined by 7%. This growth occurs amidst rising smartphone prices across the industry, partly due to increased memory and component costs. Huawei has also increased prices for its premium Mate 90 models, with the top-end Mate 90 Pro Max priced at 9,999 yuan (RM6,079), 2,000 yuan more than its predecessor, indicating a strategic shift towards higher-value handsets to manage profit margins.

The company's strong position in China's foldable phone market, where it holds about a 75% share, provides a segment where it can differentiate. The entry of competitors like Apple into the foldable market is acknowledged by Huawei's Yu, suggesting a competitive but potentially expanding premium segment.