Credit: Visual China

BEIJING, September 5 (TMTPost) - Domestic chip stocks in the A-share and Hong Kong stock markets surged on Monday. Among them, the leading semiconductor foundry, SMIC International (00981.HK), continued to rise in the afternoon session, with an intraday gain of 11.68%, closing at HKD 21.85 per share, with a trading volume exceeding HKD 2.3 billion. SMIC International's A-share also rose by 4.5% on the same day. O-film (002456.SH) rose by 2.98% to close at CNY 5.87 per share, and the leading storage chip manufacturer, Zhaoyi Innovation (SHA: 603986), saw a daily gain of 2.43%, closing at CNY 96.80 per share.

After several days of online discussion, on the evening of last Sunday, China Central Television (CCTV) News Channel and Xinwen Lianbo, a daily news program produced by CCTV, disclosed in a 2-minute video that the Huawei Mate 60 series, which is currently selling well, uses Chinese-made chips, and more than 10,000 components were made in China.

Many netizens have hailed the performance of this series, because the chips used in this smartphone series provide endless possibilities. Despite over four years of continuous pressure from the U.S., Huawei has not only survived but also continued to grow, with more than 10,000 smartphone components now produced in China. However, the video released by CCTV did not reveal specific information about domestic chip manufacturers.

Last Saturday, another program on CCTV-4 channel stated that since the launch of the Mate 60 Pro, it has been selling well, bringing more hope to the besieged Chinese technology industry. Experts believe that China's semiconductor industry has broken through the blockade, and it is only a matter of time before it flourishes. However, regarding the most anticipated chip-related issue, Huawei has not yet disclosed any information.

Since May 2019, the U.S. has imposed multiple sanctions on Huawei, prohibiting U.S. companies from selling related technologies and products to it. In 2020, the U.S. government issued two additional sanctions against Huawei, requiring semiconductor foundries that use American technology to obtain permission from the U.S. government before manufacturing chips for the company. Starting from September 15 of that year, several chip manufacturers, including TSMC, stopped supplying Huawei. Initially, Huawei relied on the Kirin 9000 chips it acquired before the supply interruption to release the Mate 40 series and the foldable Mate X2 5G smartphones. However, after exhausting its inventory, Huawei had to switch to 4G chips, and its smartphone sales plummeted. According to market research data, it held an 18% share of the global smartphone market in 2019, ranking first globally, but the market share plunged to 2% in 2022.

Since the beginning of 2023, Huawei's smartphone shipments have picked up, especially since the launch of the Mate 60 Pro.

The Huawei Mate 60 series officially went on sale through all channels last Sunday. According to Huawei's official store, the starting price for the Mate 60 is CNY 5,999 per unit, and the Mate 60 Pro starts at CNY 6,999 per unit. Last Tuesday, Huawei started pre-sales of the Mate 60 Pro with its "HUAWEI Mate 60 Pro Pioneer Program," marking the first time the company has implemented a "sale before release" strategy for its flagship smartphones.

Huawei claims that the Mate 60 series is the "most powerful Mate smartphone ever" and the world's first mainstream smartphone to support satellite calls. Even without ground network signals, it can make and receive satellite calls. The new device also uses the HarmonyOS 4.0 operating system and integrates Huawei's PanGu artificial intelligence model. In terms of durability, the phone uses highly reliable glass, doubling its drop resistance and increasing its compression resistance tenfold.

However, as of now, Huawei has not disclosed any information about the smartphone's chips or whether it is a 5G-enabled device.

According to a video cited by CCTV, the Mate 60 Pro smartphone does not have any 5G markings, but its download speed exceeds 200-500 Mbps (megabits per second), while 4G typically has a maximum download speed of 100 Mbps.

After being tested with software, the Huawei Mate 60 Pro is found to be equipped with the Kirin 9000s chip with 8 cores and 12 threads. Geekbench scores indicate that the peak performance of this chip falls between the MediaTek Dimensity 8100 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 (with the possibility of some cores being locked).

CCTV News pointed out that during the four years of supply disruption, Huawei has increased its efforts in independent research and development and made significant breakthroughs in various technologies, including chip manufacturing, through cooperation with Chinese companies. Huawei's founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei stated in March of this year that Huawei completed the development of over 13,000 components and replaced more than 4,000 circuit boards in just three years.

Yu Chengdong, Huawei's Executive Director and CEO of the Consumer Business Group, stated at an August press conference that the HarmonyOS ecosystem had experienced a challenging four years but had already overcome many obstacles.

Guotai Junan Securities's research report suggests that the official launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro is expected to lead to a significant increase in Huawei smartphone sales, benefiting the entire Huawei-related supply chain. The Mate 60 Pro's new features and Huawei’s continuous technological advancements are expected to boost performance for the company's supply chain. It could be the first to emerge from the industry's cyclical downturn.

According to an official announcement from Huawei, the company is expected to officially launch multiple hardware and software products, including the Mate 60 series, in Shanghai on September 12.

The video from CCTV states, "Huawei's breakthrough shows that there is great potential in independent innovation. Self-reliance and self-improvement in technology will bring a bright future. We firmly believe that the future of China is promising."

(Note：1 yuan equals HK$ 1.07)

(This article was first published by TMTPost App. Reporting by Lin Zhijia and editing by Ma Jinnan.)

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