Huawei, which is under U.S. sanctions, plans to equip its upcoming artificial intelligence (AI) PC products to be launched next month with its own central processing unit (CPU). It is expected that the PC operating system (OS) will not be Microsoft's (MS) Windows but rather 'Harmony OS', thereby reducing dependence on U.S. big tech by replacing Intel products with its own CPU, which serves as the brain of the PC.
According to the industry on the 18th, Huawei is reportedly planning to equip the upcoming AI PC product with a CPU designed by its fabless subsidiary, HiSilicon. This product is expected to be equipped with Huawei's OS, HarmonyOS, along with Huawei's Kirin X90 CPU. According to market research firm Canalys, Huawei holds an 11% market share in the Chinese PC market, ranking second after competitor Lenovo.
Huawei is accelerating efforts to equip its products with its own CPU. On the 14th (local time), the information technology security evaluation center supported by the Chinese government announced that the Kirin X90 chip has received Level 2 national security reliability certification. The Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, "This certification allows for an assessment of security levels," adding, "Such certification usually occurs just before product adoption."
As U.S. sanctions intensify, it is analyzed that Huawei is promoting the adoption of its own CPU to reduce dependence on U.S. corporations such as Intel. In May of last year, the U.S. revoked a special license that allowed Intel and Qualcomm to sell older semiconductors to Huawei for use in laptops and smartphones. Most of the PCs Huawei has released so far have been powered by Intel Core processors. SCMP explained that this is "the result of efforts to replace U.S.-made components as U.S. sanctions continue."
The Huawei CPU, designed by HiSilicon, is expected to be produced using the 7NANO process of China's largest foundry, SMIC. However, due to U.S. sanctions preventing Huawei from utilizing TSMC's advanced processes, it is anticipated that the CPU's performance will not reach the level of new products released by global corporations.
An industry insider stated, "Since we cannot utilize TSMC's foundry processes due to U.S. sanctions, we will use SMIC's 7NANO process," adding, "Given that SMIC shows limitations in processes below 7NANO, there will inevitably be performance differences compared to CPUs produced using TSMC's advanced processes, such as Apple M4 and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite from global companies."
Huawei is set to accelerate its independence from U.S. big tech by switching its OS along with the core component, the CPU, from MS Windows to HarmonyOS. Since launching a new product last August, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, stated, "This new product may be the last PC to operate through Microsoft's Windows, and future models are expected to use HarmonyOS."
Kang Seong-cheol, a research member of the Korean Semiconductor Display Technology Society, noted, "Huawei is committed to building a manufacturing ecosystem to achieve independence from U.S. sanctions not only in CPU design, which is the core component of PCs, but also in the foundry that manufactures it, and the core software, OS." He added, "While there may be some limitations in performance, we can gauge the level of China's IT rise through this."