HiSilicon Succeeded to Pass Qualcomm in Smartphone Processor Sales

HiSilicon, a sub-brand of Chinese technology giant Huawei and producing processors for smart phones, managed to surpass its competitor Qualcomm for the first time in the sales of smartphone processors in China.

The semiconductor and integrated circuit design company HiSilicon , which is part of Huawei Technologies , managed to pass the US-based chip maker Qualcomm for the first time to sell smartphones in China. It is stated that one of the reasons for HiSilicon's passing Qualcomm is the difficulties caused by coronavirus.

According to data from the Chinese research firm CINNO's latest monthly report on the Chinese semiconductor industry, HiSilicon sold 22.21 million smartphone processors in the first quarter of 2020 . HiSilicon had sold 22.17 million smartphone processors in the same period of last year , which means it was the only major company to grow compared to the same period of the previous year, even though there was no major growth .

HiSilicon, China's largest smartphone processor supplier

Huawei 's Hisilicon sub-brand market share, in the same period of last year % 36 , 5 which rose to 43.9%. The company succeeded to become China's largest smartphone processor supplier by defeating Qualcomm for the first time.

This performance of HiSilicon came at a time when Chinese smartphone manufacturers began to wear down due to delayed devices. According to the report released by the Chinese Academy of Information and Communication Technologies earlier this month, smartphone sales in the country fell by 34.7% to 47.7 million units in the first quarter of 2020 .

According to CINNO's report, there was a similar contraction in processor sales. According to the company's report, in the first quarter of 2020, smartphone processor sales in China decreased by 44.5% compared to the same period last year . USA-based Qualcomm, which has been the market leader for a long time, dropped to HiSilicon and dropped to the second place. MediaTek maintained its third place, but it experienced a decrease in its market share.

USA - China voltage and processor production

Huawei , the parent company of HiSilicon , is in the middle of the trade and technology wars between China and the USA. The Trump administration banned US companies from cooperating with Huawei, saying last year Huawei could share sensitive data from telecommunications networks with Beijing management.

Disapproving these claims made by the U.S. administration, Huawei has begun to increase the production of non-U.S. Products such as HiSilicon. The company also shifts the production of chips designed by HiSilicon from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC).

The reason for Huawei's move was that the US administration drafted a new law requiring foreign companies using US chip production equipment to obtain a license before selling to Huawei . According to CINNO, now over 90% of Huawei phones are using HiSilicon processors. However, the company's founder, Ren Zhengfei, said they will continue to use Intel and Qualcomm processors as long as they are allowed.