HiSilicon, Huawei Unit Starts Delivering New Chips For Supervisory Cameras

One unit of Huawei Technologies company is now capable of delivering new Chinese-made chips to surveillance cameras. This is a new sign that this Chinese technology company has found a way to overcome the four-year ban on chip exports from the United States. This information was conveyed by two sources who received reports about the unit's efforts.

Chip deliveries to surveillance camera manufacturers were carried out by Huawei's HiSilicon chip design unit, and began this year, according to one of the sources. One source with knowledge of the unit said that at least some customers were Chinese companies.

One key factor in this is that the company appears to have managed to overcome US restrictions on chip design software. In March, Huawei announced a breakthrough in design tools for chips produced at and above 14 nanometers, although the breakthroughs have generations been slower than today's leading technology. But this is progress for the company.

HiSilicon mostly supplies chips for Huawei equipment, but also has external subscribers such as Dahua Technology and Hikvision. Prior to the US export ban, HiSilicon was the dominant supplier of chips for the surveillance camera sector, with an estimated global market share of around 60% in 2018.

But in 2021, HiSilicon's global market share will drop drastically to just 3.9%, according to data from consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

One of the sources that received reports on the unit's efforts said that HiSilicon had been shipping some low-end supervisory chips since 2019, but its main focus was on high-end arenas and reclaiming market share from companies such as Novatek Microelectronics Corp from Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Huawei announced various new smartphones that use advanced chips, which may be made domestically. This shows that the Chinese technology company has succeeded in overcoming export bans from the United States since 2019 which prohibits the company from obtaining components and technology from US companies without approval.

This announcement describes Huawei's efforts to compete in the AI chip market outside the cloud data center. Huawei will continue to strive to facilitate access and use of artificial intelligence technology by various circles