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US-China tech war
OpinionComment
Craig Addison
Craig Addison

Opinion | The trade war could leave Huawei smartphones frozen in time without core technology from the US

  • The crown jewel of Chinese tech will need more than its vaunted ‘wolf culture’ to stay innovative, given the US freeze on technologies that are key to reaching the top of the smartphone game

Reading Time:4 minutes
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Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei, speaks during an interview at the company's headquarters in Shenzhen on May 24. Ren has responded to US pressure on his company with defiance, characteristic of his company’s “all in” retaliation against opponents. Photo: Bloomberg
Craig Addison
When Huawei’s smartphone shipments overtook Apple’s iPhone sales in the second quarter of last year, the Chinese company’s goal of unseating Samsung and becoming the world’s No 1 smartphone maker by 2020 seemed on track.
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Then, last month, the US government banned Huawei and its affiliates from purchasing American components and software without a licence, the latest move in a continuing campaign by Washington to punish the company for alleged theft of trade secrets and violating US sanctions on Iran.

One by one, Huawei began losing access to the technologies it needed to stay in the race as a top smartphone brand, including Google’s Android operating system, ARM Holdings’ processor cores and, most recently, preloaded Facebook apps.

In the spirit of its famed “wolf culture”, Huawei fought back. Chairman and founder Ren Zhengfei and his lieutenants shrugged off the ban, saying the company had been preparing for such an eventuality by stockpiling components and designing more of its own chips.
The company also confirmed it was developing its own operating system and had trademarked the name ARK OS in Europe, where Huawei phones took one-third of the market in 2018.

In particular, Huawei’s wholly owned chip design company HiSilicon was touted as key to the company’s tech independence from the US because it produces devices ranging from the Kirin processors that power Huawei’s smartphones to chipsets used in its 5G base stations.

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