Huawei prepares for launch, though of what product remains a secret

Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecommunications giant, was reeling from US sanctions in 2020, cut off from key chip supplies. Last year, though, it stunned Washington with a new smartphone featuring an advanced semiconductor.

Now, the company is poised to reach another milestone.

Huawei’s autumn launch event, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Shenzhen, will be led by its secretive chip design unit, HiSilicon. When the announcement of the event was first made, it sparked significant speculation thousands of miles away in the US.

Some US industry analysts anticipate that Huawei will unveil a groundbreaking artificial intelligence semiconductor that could be capable of rivalling high-end chips that American tech giants like Nvidia are prohibited from selling to China.

Such a development, they say, might undercut the market share that Nvidia and other US chip companies have built in China and the Global South. It could also nudge Washington to reconsider its sanctions-based approach to curbing China’s technological progress.