One year after the U.S. placed Huawei on the Entity List, the company faced another setback with new U.S. export rules impacting its ability to access cutting-edge chips. This move restricted foundries using American technology from supplying chips to Huawei without a license, including the HiSilicon unit’s 5G Kirin chips.

– Last Huawei phone with a 5G AP was Mate 40 in 2020
– Had to obtain license for Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm
– P50, Mate 50, and P60 flagship models used modified Snapdragon APs

In a surprising turn of events, Huawei introduced the Mate 60 Pro powered by the 7nm Kirin 9000s chip, marking the return of a 5G chip in Huawei phones since 2020. The chipset was built by China’s largest foundry SMIC with technology from American firms Applied Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp.

Despite acquiring technology before the U.S. export rule change, SMIC has been blocked from further U.S. imports since unveiling the Kirin 9000s with the Mate 60 Pro. This development has fueled nationalism in China, propelling Huawei back as one of the leading phone manufacturers in the country.