People experience Huawei Pura 70 series mobile phones at a Huawei store in Nanning, Guangxi, southern China, April 27, 2024. More than 90% of the parts used in the Pura 70 series are already made in China. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Huawei's latest high-end phones feature more Chinese suppliers, including new flash memory storage chips and improved chip processors, teardown analysis shows, pushing China toward technology self-sufficiency. It shows that progress is being made.
Online tech repair company iFixit and consulting firm TechSearch International looked inside Huawei Technologies' Pura 70 Pro for Reuters and found that the Chinese telecom equipment maker's in-house chip unit HiSilicon and several other products made by Huawei Technologies. Discovered a NAND memory chip that is likely packaged with components. Chinese supplier.
These findings have not been previously reported.
Huawei's resurgence in the premium smartphone market after four years of U.S. sanctions is emblematic of escalating U.S.-China trade tensions and China's move toward technological self-sufficiency. It is drawing widespread attention from both U.S. politicians.
The companies also discovered that the Pura 70 phone runs on an advanced processing chipset made by Huawei called Kirin 9010. This is likely just a slightly improved version of the advanced Chinese chip used in Huawei's Mate 60 series.
Shahram Mokhtari, chief disassembly engineer at iFixit, said, “I can't give you the exact percentage, but the percentage of domestic parts used is high, definitely higher than the Mate 60.”
“This is an issue of self-sufficiency. Everything you see when you open your smartphone and see something made by a Chinese manufacturer, this is all an issue of self-sufficiency,” Mokhtari said.
Huawei declined to comment.
Huawei launched four Pura 70 smartphone models in late April, and the series quickly sold out. Analysts say the iPhone maker is likely to lose more market share from Apple, but policymakers in Washington are questioning the effectiveness of U.S. restraints on the telecoms giant. There is.
flash memory chips made in china
A preliminary analysis of the Mate 60, which was released in August last year, by teardown companies such as TechInsights revealed that the device uses DRAM and NAND memory chips made by South Korea's SK Hynix. SK Hynix said at the time that it no longer does business with Huawei, and analysts said the chips likely came from inventory.
According to iFixit and TechSearch, the Pura 70 still has DRAM chips made by SK Hynix, but the NAND flash memory chips are likely packaged this time by Huawei's HiSilicon units, each with a capacity of 1 Terabit. It was composed of NAND dies with This is comparable to products from major flash memory manufacturers such as SK Hynix, Kioxia, and Micron.
However, the companies were unable to definitively identify the wafer's manufacturer because the markings on the NAND die were unfamiliar, it added. However, iFixit added that it believes HiSilicon may also be manufacturing memory controllers.
“During our teardown, our chip ID experts identified it as a specific HiSilicon chip,” Mokhtari said.
SK Hynix reiterated, “Since the restrictions on Huawei were announced, we have strictly complied with the relevant policies and have since ceased doing business with the company.”
gradual improvement
An analysis of the processor used in the Pura 70 Pro by IFixit and TechSearch reveals that Huawei may have only incrementally improved its ability to manufacture advanced chips with Chinese partners in the months since the launch of the Mate 60 series. also suggests.
The processor is featured in the Mate 60 series manufactured by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) for Huawei using the Chinese chip foundry's 7 nanometer (nm) N+2 manufacturing process. It is said that it is similar to the one that exists.
iFixit said: “Last year, news of the 9000S at the 7nm node caused a bit of panic as sanctions imposed on Chinese chipmakers faced the possibility that they might not slow down their technological progress. This is important.”
“The fact that the 9010 is still a 7nm process chip and is very close to the 9000S may seem to suggest that Chinese chip manufacturing is indeed lagging behind.”
Still, he cautioned against underestimating Huawei, saying SMIC is expected to make the leap to the 5nm manufacturing node by the end of the year.
SMIC did not respond to requests for comment.
