Huawei surpassed Qualcomm, becoming China's number one chip supplier

This is the first time that HiSilicon, Huawei's semiconductor design unit, surpassed Qualcomm in the number of products supplied to the Chinese market in the first quarter of this year.

Specifically, HiSilicon shipped 22.21 million smartphone processors in the first quarter of 2020, roughly the same number of products shipped in the same period last year, CNBC cited a new report by the research firm. CINNO Research based in China said. HiSilicon has attempted to increase its market share to 43.9% from 24.3% in the first quarter of 2019. The chip used in Huawei's smart phones designed by HiSilicon is branded as Kirin.

CINNO did not disclose Qualcomm's specific delivery figures, but said the US semiconductor market share had dropped to 32.8% in the first quarter of this year, significantly less than 48.1% in the same period. last year. The reason is attributed to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on the US smartphone market that has attacked Qualcomm's production and business activities.

The development of HiSilicon in China reflects the fact that Huawei has increasingly focused on the domestic market, especially since it was blacklisted by the US President Donald Trump in May 2019. A decision made Huawei restricted access to US technology, including the use of Android operating system.

After beginning to double its focus on China, Huawei's market share in the smartphone market has increased. In the first quarter of this year, its smartphone shipments increased 6% from last year, according to a report released on April 29 by Counterpoint Research. The world's largest network equipment supplier has also tried to reduce its dependence on semiconductor devices by using its smartphone chip.

Along with smartphones, Huawei's smartphone processor market share in its home country has also increased, with most of its earnings coming from Qualcomm's key customers. In August 2019, Steve Mollenkopf, Qualcomm CEO, said Huawei's decision to focus on the Chinese market hurt his company. Semiconductor is a chip supplier for Huawei's domestic rivals, including Xiaomi and Oppo.

'After being banned from export, Huawei has shifted its focus to building market share to the Chinese market, where we do not get the corresponding benefits in product or license sales,' Mollenkopf told investors. from.