Huawei Unit Ships China-Made Surveillance Chips

A unit of Huawei Technologies is now shipping new Chinese-made chips for surveillance cameras, marking a fresh sign that the Chinese tech giant is finding ways to bypass four years of US export controls, as reported by two sources briefed on the unit's efforts to Reuters.

The shipments to surveillance camera manufacturers from Huawei's HiSilicon chip design unit began this year. I Photo: HiSilicon

The shipments to surveillance camera manufacturers from Huawei's HiSilicon chip design unit began this year, according to one source.

Additionally, one of the sources briefed on the unit stated that at least some of the customers were Chinese. In recent weeks, Huawei has also unveiled new smartphones that use advanced chips believed to be domestically made, as noted by analysts.

These developments indicate that the Chinese tech giant is effectively circumventing Washington's export controls, which have prevented it from acquiring components and technology from US firms without approval since 2019.

"The manufacturing of these surveillance chips is relatively straightforward compared to smartphone processors," stated the source familiar with the camera industry's supply chain, who added that HiSilicon's return would have a significant impact on the market.

US sanctions have severely limited HiSilicon's access to electronic design automation (EDA) software from companies such as Cadence Design Systems Inc., Synopsys Inc., and Siemens AG's Mentor Graphics.

These three companies' products dominate the chip-design sector, responsible for producing blueprints for chips before mass manufacturing.

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