Huawei may launch its own SoC this year to offset US sanctions

Huawei was flying high years ago, when it was breathing down the neck of both Samsung and Apple. The US sanctions then took place, and messed up Huawei’s plans. Huawei has been working around those sanctions for years, and it seems like the company may actually announce a new SoC later this year.

Huawei may actually launch a new SoC later this year, to offset US sanctions

There’s a lot to unpack here. First and foremost, this won’t be the company’s first chip, not at all. Huawei was releasing its ‘Kirin’ chips for a long time, and they were actually excellent. That business was kind of ruined by the aforementioned sanctions. Huawei was also prevented from pre-installing Google services on its phones.

As part of the sanctions, the company was also prevented to use 5G chips in its phones. Huawei opted to utilize Qualcomm’s latest offerings, but their 4G versions. Well, the latest move by the US, which we reported about recently, prevents Huawei from doing that as well.

Huawei may have a plan, though. According to a tipster, Huawei will announce a new processor later this year. To be more accurate, that chip is expected to arrive in the second half of this year.

This processor will rely on new packaging technology, it seems. We don’t know what process node will be in use, though, or the foundry that will manufacture it.

If this is true, we wonder how will Huawei pull it off. The company is now prevented from using 4G chips from Qualcomm, and there’s also a ban against the delivery of Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) machines in China. That basically makes it impossible for a Chinese foundry to produce chips using a process node under 10nm.

Huawei did send in some interesting patent applications recently

Huawei’s saving grace may be its new technology, which it patented a while back. Huawei sent in an application for EUV components. This signalizes that Huawei may be ready to develop an EUV machine in China. This could allow Huawei to work around the latest sanctions.

The question is, how realistic is this to happen so soon? Huawei will need a fresh batch of chips later this year, presuming that it already secured chips for the upcoming Huawei P60 and Mate 60 series phones.