In the keynote session of Huawei Analyst Summit 2021, there was a big focus on chip availability, both in prepared remarks and from questions fielded from the audience. Huawei Deputy Chairman, Eric Xu, as he has done in past years, answered questions from the audience. Huawei reiterated that it has enough B2B-focused chips, consistent with comments made one year ago today, which suggests that it stockpiled significant amounts of chips ahead of sanctions. Huawei expects to remain on US Entity List for a long time.
- The company said that a primary reason for the worldwide semiconductor shortages is that other Chinese companies have stockpiled up to 6 months of inventory and US sanctions are the main cause.
- When asked a question about ARM v9, it has previously stated that it is allowed to use v9. Additionally, Huawei plans to work with other Chinese companies to make the chips for the Chinese market, but the question is how advanced the semiconductor process can be.
The company shared many goals. Those that were communications focused included:
- Huawei is promoting 5.5G as a means of improving uplink capabilities significantly: From 0.5 Gbps to 100 Gbps uplink by 2030.
- The company expects optical transmission speeds of 1 Tb/sec by 2030 (per fiber).
- Huawei is advocating for the creation of new IP protocols that are deterministic.
Other standout topics were:
- Cloud business unit is big priority for Huawei and it expects to grow software and services as a percentage of total revenues in the future.
- Autonomous driving software a big focus. The company will not make Huawei branded cars, but will take a “Huawei Inside” approach. It has 3 significant partnerships already and by 4Q21, the Beijing Automobile group will launch a car based on this technology partnership.
