HUAWEI STOPS MAKING ITS FLAGSHIP KIRIN CHIPSETS

Huawei Technologies Co will stop making its flagship Kirin chipsets next month, financial magazine Caixin said on Saturday, as the impact of US pressure on the Chinese tech giant grows.

US pressure on Huawei’s suppliers has made it impossible for the company’s HiSilicon chip division to keep making the chipsets, key components for mobile phone, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Unit was quoted as saying at the launch of the company’s new Mate 40 handset.

With US-China relations at their worst in decades, Washington is pressing governments around to world to squeeze Huawei out, arguing it would hand over data to the Chinese government for spying. Huawei denies it spies for China. The US is also seeking the extradition from Canada of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, on charges of bank fraud.

“From Sept. 15 onward, our flagship Kirin processors cannot be produced,” Yu said, according to Caixin. “Our AI-powered chips also cannot be processed. This is a huge loss for us.” Huawei’s HiSilicon division relies on software from US companies such as Cadence Design Systems Inc. or Synopsys Inc. to design its chips and it outsources the production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which uses equipment from US companies.