- Huawei has recently unveiled its new smartphones that use advanced chips
- HiSilicon’s global market share estimated 60% in 2018 to just 3.9% by 2021
A Huawei Technologies unit has announced the shipment of new chips made by China for surveillance cameras. The chip company’s name is HiSilicon. According to sources, the shipment of new chips started this year.
“These surveillance chips are relatively easy to manufacture compared to smartphone processors,” said the source familiar with the surveillance camera industry’s supply chain, adding that HiSilicon’s return would shake up the market.
In recent weeks, Huawei also unveiled new smartphones that use advanced chips, which analysts say are domestically made. In order to curb Washington’s export controls, China has taken this step ahead for the development.
Since 2019, Washington has barred China from obtaining components and technology from U.S. firms without approval.
In March, Huawei took a step ahead in design tools. It produced chips at and above 14 nanometres – two to three generations behind leading-edge technology but an advance for the company.
HiSilicon has shipped some low-end surveillance chips since 2019, but its focus was on the high-end arena and reclaiming market share from Taiwan’s Novatek Microelectronics.
The decline in HiSilicon’s global market share from an estimated 60% in 2018 to just 3.9% by 2021, as reported by Frost & Sullivan, reflects the company’s struggles in the face of these export controls.
HiSilicon is a semiconductor company based in China that primarily supplies chips for Huawei’s equipment, including smartphones and networking devices. However, it also had external customers in the surveillance camera sector, such as Dahua Technology and Hikvision.
