Huawei's Flagship Kirin CPUs Meet An Untimely End With Mate 40 Due To U.S. Blocks
Yu announced that chipset production would end during the launch for the Mate 40 headset. According to a report from Caixin, the executive said that starting on September 15, the flagship Kirin processors will no longer be produced. The company's AI-powered chips will also cease production at that time. Yu said that the cessation of production for both chips is a "huge loss" for the company.
The decline in business for Huawei and its chipset business comes as the United States continues to pressure governments around the world to discontinue the use of any Huawei products. The United States government alleged in February 2020 that it had evidence the company had built backdoors into its hardware. Governments fear Huawei is sharing information with the Chinese government, while Huawei insists that this assertion is false.
In May, the U.S. Commerce Department instituted licensing requirements for American companies to do business with Huawei, restricting access to all U.S. technology and software. Licensing requirements resulted in Huawei being unable to do business with TSMC, the company that manufactured the chips it designed. The licensing requirement also prevented HiSilicon from using software that it relied on from U.S. companies, like Cadence Design Systems Inc. or Synopsis Inc., for designing its chips internally. It's unclear at this time how Huawei will continue producing smartphones. Presumably, it will source chipsets from manufacturers outside the United States, however, the company hasn't announced plans for future devices.
