Huawei Has no Plan to Build its Own Chip Plant: Rotating Chairman

Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, April 26 (TMTPOST) — Huawei does not plan to build its own chip plant to deal with chip supply shortages, Hu Houkun, the company’s Rotating Chairman said at the 2022 Huawei Global Analyst Summit.

Hu said that there is a division of labor within the industry and that breaking that division will increase overall production cost and eventually harm the interest of consumers.

Wang Tao, Executive Director of the Board and Chairman of ICT Infrastructure Managing Board explained that the chip industry has a long industrial chain that includes the design, manufacturing and packaging of chips. There are also many important parts within the manufacturing of chips, Wang said, stating that no company can rely on its own to ensure chip supply. The supply of chips requires efforts from both the upstream and downstream of the industry, he said.

One benefit that was generated by the United States’ move to restrict chip supply is that China and many other countries and regions have increased their investment in the semiconductor industrial chain, Wang said. He believes that the situation of chip supply shortage will be lessened in the coming years.

Huawei’s rotating chairman Hu Houkun said at the summit that the challenges that Huawei faces in the smart terminal sector provided the company the chance to rethink its development. Smart terminals are not only about smartphones, Hu said, adding that what users actually need is better user experience that centers on the users.

“We believe that terminals are not just smartphones. When users are having more and more electronic devices around them, what they actually need is not having more devices but rather more intelligent experience,” Hu explained.

Despite the hardships that Huawei is facing in its business operation in recent years, the company has been reinforced investment in research and development. In 2021, the company poured in 22% of its income into research and development. Huawei’s earnings report shows the company invested 142.7 billion yuan in research and development in 2021, breaking its previous record.

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