Huawei spinoff Honor will not develop advanced chips of its own, Qualcomm, MediaTek enough, says CEO

Honor, the smartphone brand that separated from Huawei, has stated that it does not intend to develop its own system-on-a-chip (SoC) products and plans to continue relying on core semiconductors provided by MediaTek from Taiwan and Qualcomm from the United States.

According to George Zhao Ming, the CEO of Honor, the company’s focus will be on non-core chips, such as the C1 chip, a self-developed radio frequency communication device designed to enhance 5G signals. This chip was initially incorporated into Honor’s Magic5-series smartphones.

Zhao emphasized that Honor has no plans for SoC development and highlighted the importance of its partnerships with MediaTek and Qualcomm, stating that these partnerships enable chip platform-based optimization for Honor’s smartphones.

These remarks by Zhao differ from the approach of Honor’s former parent company, Huawei, which has been striving for self-reliance in chip development, particularly in response to US tech sanctions.

Huawei recently introduced 5G smartphones powered by advanced in-house processors, symbolizing China’s defiance of US restrictions. Huawei’s Deputy Chairman, Eric Xu Zhijun, has urged China to invest more in developing its own semiconductors despite the technology gap with foreign-made chips, as he believes increased support will eventually help narrow the gap.

Honor has previously established a subsidiary, Shanghai Honor Intelligent Technology Development Co, with an increased capital base for research and development activities, sparking speculation about its involvement in in-house chip design.

However, Honor clarified that this subsidiary primarily focuses on software, graphics algorithms, and communication and imaging research.

Honor also dispelled rumours that it might return to Huawei’s fold, confirming that it considers Huawei as a competitor in the smartphone industry.

In the second quarter of the year, Huawei regained a significant position in China’s smartphone market but still trailed behind Oppo, Vivo, Honor, and Apple. Globally, while Honor’s shipments have increased in various markets, it has not yet entered the top five smartphone vendor rankings.

This decision by Honor to rely on external chip suppliers like MediaTek and Qualcomm reflects a pragmatic approach to ensure the availability of advanced chip solutions for its smartphones without the need for extensive in-house chip development.