Trump administration’s sanctions targeting Huawei at the time meant one thing, innovate or die! Everyone wondered whether the Chinese telecoms giant would survive the ban. Would they be able to make a smartphone without American parts? The answer, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal, is apparently yes.

 

 

The analysis by UBS and Fomalhaut Techno Solutions says that Huawei’s Mate 30 has no US parts at all. Huawei apparently has found non-American suppliers for several critical components. It now sources its audio amplifiers from the Netherlands’ NXP rather than Cirrus Logic.

 

Using its own HiSilicon semiconductor division for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips rather than Broadcom. And using companies like Japan’s Murata and Taiwan’s MediaTek for parts formerly supplied by US manufacturers.

 

New Huawei Mate 30 used zero US suppliers, teardown analysis shows

Intel
Broadcom
Qualcomm
Qorvo
Skyworks
Cirrus Logic

all provide parts to Huawei https://t.co/09LxQAcxmR

— Sally Shin (@sallyshin) December 2, 2019

 

Huawei has a “clear preference to continue to integrate and buy components from U.S. supply partners,” a company spokesperson told the WSJ. “If that proves impossible because of the decisions of the US government, we will have no choice but to find alternative supply from non-US sources.”

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Huawei Still Reliant on Some American Parts

Huawei has had no choice really, it is banned from doing business with most American companies. The company said it had been stockpiling components anticipating sanctions.

 

Also, other inquiries show that some of its newer devices are still reliant on American parts. TechInsights, for example, declares that the higher-end Mate 30 Pro 5G uses chips from Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.

 

Some reasons might be that Huawei wants to use up the chips it saved for this scenario. This is regardless of whether it had any other options. It’s also not surprising that the company would be making big moves to diversify its supply chain.

 

What the UBS teardown does demonstrate, however, is that Huawei is capable of manufacturing high-end smartphones without American suppliers. They have done it.

 

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