Hamartia Antidote
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I always believe in power of free market and entrepreneurship. We will always have unscrupulous selfish businessmen; we will also have creative entrepreneurs to meet consumers' demands.Smart Chopsticks That Test Your Food For Contamination
Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan
Today 10:17pm
EXPAND
Recently, Stephen Colbert lampooned gadgets that track what you drink and other seemingly inane metrics. But the trend may have just found its ideal market. The Chinese search giant Baidu just introduced a pair of "smart chopsticks" designed to alert users to the presence of "gutter oil," or the illegal use of oil dredged up unsavory places.
The utensils are called Baidu Kuaisou, and according to the Wall Street Journal, they can detect "oils containing unsanitary levels of contamination." The product was hyped today at Baidu's annual conference in Beijing, alongside a Google Glass-like product called Baidu Eye. But Kuaisuo, like the recently-introduced Vessyl smart cup, reportedly uses a series of sensors to determine metrics like oil quality, temperature, PH levels, and even calories, then transmits that information to an app. A tiny blue LED at the tip of the chopsticks would give you an on-sight reading.
Pricing and availability is yet to come, in a manner befitting what could very likely be vaporware. But that it's even an idea of a product does reflect growing concerns in China about food safety. Gutter oil, in particular, is a disturbing trend. If you're unfamiliar with it (and have a strong stomach), check out this video about how the oil is processed. It's often dredged from sewers or garbage disposals, and then processed and sold to restaurants and even pharmaceutical companies, after which it gets passed along to unwitting consumers, who are put at serious risk from the toxic stuff. If it takes a pair of future-chopsticks to help discourage the practice, that's just as well. [Wall Street Journal]
Smart Chopsticks That Test Your Food For Contamination
I just heard on news that American chicken farmers are now abolishing any use of antibiotics on chicken.
Hamartia Antidote
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Hypersonicmissiles
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China just keeps getting stronger and stronger.
sms
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LOL, No I'll buy it from China. I do have soft corner for ChinaYes，Japan makes by far the best rice cookers in the world。
India should import Japanese rice cookers by the truckloads。
cirr
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China wants global semiconductor leverage
Posted: 05 Sep 2014
In the past weeks, two news items involving Intel andChina stirred up the investment industry, as well as attracted Chinese media attention. First is that Intel is eyeing China's Spreadtrum as an investment to shore up its mobile business, according to a Chinese news site. Second, Intel should consider acquiring Taiwan's MediaTek as urged by RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman.
Reached by EE Times on Tuesday, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy was, of course, mum, other than noting: "We don't comment on speculation nor do we speculate on what might have caused the speculation."
This is a predictable no-comment. Both items might indeed be pure "speculation" worthy of no further interest.
However, it was only a few weeks ago when a group of Chinese investors—including a state-owned firm—offered a buyout proposal to US digital imaging chipmaker OmniVision. Putting together a string of recent events, we couldn't help but wonder:
EE Times has been scrambling to connect the dots of China's seemingly unrelated investment moves in recent months.
Nicky Lu, chairman of Etron Technology Inc. in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is one of those industry executives convinced that these manoeuvres are closely tied to China's national IC industry framework. He says they make perfect sense.
Just to be clear, we regard Lu as "the man in the know."
While serving as chair of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (its politically correct name is "Semiconductor Industry Association in Chinese Taipei"), Lu earlier this year became the chair of the World Semiconductor Council (WSC).
Lu explains that China's new policy, different from those in the past, is the infusion of private investment funds. It allows professional financial investors to bet on which entities—fabless, foundries, and/or research institutes—deserve the funding.
In Lu's view, if the Chinese funds actually succeed in improving the value of Spreadtrum and manage to sell it off (to Intel or not), China wins.
China's proposal to buy OmniVision, on the other hand, will have further impact.
By taking over the world's leading CMOS image sensor vendor, China will gain instant access to the global market and the company's formidable market share. More importantly, such a deal generates demand for volume production of CMOS image sensors in China (not in Taiwan)—enough to fill the capacity of home-grown Chinese fabs like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) based in Shanghai.
In short, China's investment funds are on the lookout for acquiring successful companies in the global market.
How China funds are allocated. Source: Data compiled by EE Times based on media reports in China and Taiwan, and interviews with industry sources
As illustrated in the table above, as much as $98 billion, to promote M&A activity, will flow to local governments and their regional private equity investments in China. This is in addition to government funds for national IC industry support.
Modelled after the Beijing IC Industry Equity Investment Fund, Chinese provinces including Wuhan, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are racing to build "regional" private equity funds. Rivalries between different regional private equity funds were already evident when the Beijing-based Tsinghua Unigroup outmaneuvered the Shanghai Pudong Science and Technology Investment Co. (PDSTI) to buy Shanghai-based Spreadtrum. Meanwhile PDSTI, not to be outdone by Beijing, unveiled a plan to acquire Montage Technology of Shanghai. PDSTI is also a part of the investment group that has offered to buy OmniVision.
China's national blueprint for semiconductor industry development is far from the stodgy, top-down model of the planned economy era, according to China hands familiar with the industry. Today, it's much more "market-driven."
A case in point is that the money made available by the government and China's private investment funds isn't just for investing in Chinese companies. The funds can go global to acquire technologies and companies with the best potential to expand China's semiconductor industry. The OmniVision deal would fit that bill, according to Lu.
China to follow Taiwan's playbook
It's well known that the Chinese government isn't happy about the widening gap between the number of chips China imports from multinationals and the volume China produces on its own.
China's integrated circuit consumption and production comparison. Source: "Continuing to Grow, China's Impact on the Semiconductor Industry, 2013 update," PwC
If history is any indication, every nation has harbored similar concerns. In other countries, the solution has been a national industrial policy to develop home-grown semiconductor production.
Lu observes that China has decided to follow Taiwan's playbook, rather than pursuing models practised by Korea, Japan, Europe, or the United States.
The Taiwan playbook, in a nutshell, is about creating a service model, says Lu. Taiwan first launched the foundry business, including such companies as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and UMC, as a mother ship. Taiwan, in parallel, developed additional service-related businesses ranging from design services to packaging, equipment maintenance, and wafer-level testing companies. The mother ship, then, spawned a cluster of IC design houses—described by Lu as "a fleet."
It took Taiwan 15 years before consumption and production of chips got even, says Lu. Back in 1990, Taiwan's National Subµm Project, led by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, began. The project enabled Taiwan to build 8-inch wafer technology for design and manufacturing, thus facilitating growing investment in the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. In 2005, the semiconductor exports exceeded the country's total imports.
Source: Etron Technology
Lu predicts that it will only take 10 years for China to reach that break-even point. The next couple of years, however, will be critical, he feels. China's policymakers hope to show early signs of growth in a key business, in employment and technology, that matters to China's economy.
Who's behind the national plan?
As Lu tells the story, those who have drawn up the National Framework for Development of the Integrated Circuit Industry are an elite team—fewer than 10 people. Consisting of physicists, private equity people, and technology experts, the team composes the national semiconductor office, which sits right next to China's prime minister's office. Their goal is to find the most effective and meaningful path for China's semiconductor industry to plot its own future.
"I have a lot of respect for the intelligence of policymakers in China," says Lu.
Of course, a national plan without engineering talent can only produce empty promises. China, however, is ready to up its game, according to Lu, both in terms of the fundamental science and the volume of talented engineers to carry out some of the toughest projects.
He cautioned us: "Don't judge China just by looking at today's China." More important is what China is capable of doing in the next 10 years.
Consider the example of the fundamental science for developing a 3D topological insulator, says Lu. A project that originated at Stanford University now has a group of scientists at Tsinghua University (Prof S.C. Chang's group) and the China Academy of Science vigorously working on it.
Further, take note of the 400,000 students graduating from universities in China every year with engineering degrees. Fifty per cent have degrees in integrated circuits, according to Lu. Where else in the world could higher education pump out so many students with engineering degrees?
Accountability
Let's face it. China doesn't exactly have the best record of accountability when government gets involved in spreading around investment money. Even projects that started out with the best of intentions have failed as money disappeared somewhere along the food chain. How do you ensure the accountability of the National Framework for Development of the Integrated Circuit Industry?
Several things need to happen, notes Lu. First, policymakers must show results. They need to demonstrate that the policy can generate better domestic jobs. They also need to encourage China's system companies to design with parts produced in China. The use of domestic components is especially encouraged for "special-use" products such as military applications. Policymakers also need to demonstrate the use of the domestic chips in such applications as IoT and healthcare systems that will be particularly helpful in improving the lives of Chinese people, he says.
Source: PWC
By choosing credible and successful companies (foreign and domestic) as targets for investment, China is seeking to produce results quickly, Lu says. That's why he views the next two years as critical.
Unlike the old China, which often insisted on developing domestic versions of global standards (e.g., VCD vs DVD) so that it could avoid paying licensing fees or royalties, the success of China's new policy hinges upon following international rules, Lu points out. Instead of pursuing a domestic standard for the sake of, say, a home-grown operating system, China must put commercial deals first.
In sum, China is at a threshold. China is ready. If it succeeds in the OmniVision acquisition, China can easily take OminVision's business away from TSMC and bring it to SMIC. As far as Lu is concerned, "The game is fair, and things in China are moving faster than ever."
Other regions in the world, on the other hand, have only themselves to blame if China bypasses them. As Lu concluded, innovation is the only way for us to differentiate ourselves.
In 2013, China's semiconductor consumption market grew by 10.1 per cent (more than double the worldwide market growth of 4.8 per cent). It has reached a new record of 55.6 per cent of the global market. Ongoing global demand for smartphones and tablets is the main reason for this continued strong growth in China's semiconductor consumption and will continue to be a factor in the coming years.
China wants global semiconductor leverage
Posted: 05 Sep 2014
In the past weeks, two news items involving Intel andChina stirred up the investment industry, as well as attracted Chinese media attention. First is that Intel is eyeing China's Spreadtrum as an investment to shore up its mobile business, according to a Chinese news site. Second, Intel should consider acquiring Taiwan's MediaTek as urged by RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman.
Reached by EE Times on Tuesday, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy was, of course, mum, other than noting: "We don't comment on speculation nor do we speculate on what might have caused the speculation."
This is a predictable no-comment. Both items might indeed be pure "speculation" worthy of no further interest.
However, it was only a few weeks ago when a group of Chinese investors—including a state-owned firm—offered a buyout proposal to US digital imaging chipmaker OmniVision. Putting together a string of recent events, we couldn't help but wonder:
- Does selling Spreadtrum to Intel, or allowing the foreign chip giant to invest in the now state-owned company, make sense for China?
- What's the real motivation behind China's wanting to acquire OmniVision?
- Do any of these moves have anything to do with China's recently unveiled "National Framework for Development of the Integrated Circuit Industry"? (After all, the Chinese government is setting up a huge annual investment fund to support the nation's semiconductor industry.)
Some US-based electronics industry executives told us that a Spreadtrum sale and an Omnivision purchase are both among the potential financial plays contemplated by China's investment community. Others, however, are sceptical of the whole scenario.
EE Times has been scrambling to connect the dots of China's seemingly unrelated investment moves in recent months.
Nicky Lu, chairman of Etron Technology Inc. in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is one of those industry executives convinced that these manoeuvres are closely tied to China's national IC industry framework. He says they make perfect sense.
Just to be clear, we regard Lu as "the man in the know."
While serving as chair of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (its politically correct name is "Semiconductor Industry Association in Chinese Taipei"), Lu earlier this year became the chair of the World Semiconductor Council (WSC).
Lu explains that China's new policy, different from those in the past, is the infusion of private investment funds. It allows professional financial investors to bet on which entities—fabless, foundries, and/or research institutes—deserve the funding.
In Lu's view, if the Chinese funds actually succeed in improving the value of Spreadtrum and manage to sell it off (to Intel or not), China wins.
China's proposal to buy OmniVision, on the other hand, will have further impact.
By taking over the world's leading CMOS image sensor vendor, China will gain instant access to the global market and the company's formidable market share. More importantly, such a deal generates demand for volume production of CMOS image sensors in China (not in Taiwan)—enough to fill the capacity of home-grown Chinese fabs like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) based in Shanghai.
In short, China's investment funds are on the lookout for acquiring successful companies in the global market.
How China funds are allocated. Source: Data compiled by EE Times based on media reports in China and Taiwan, and interviews with industry sources
As illustrated in the table above, as much as $98 billion, to promote M&A activity, will flow to local governments and their regional private equity investments in China. This is in addition to government funds for national IC industry support.
Modelled after the Beijing IC Industry Equity Investment Fund, Chinese provinces including Wuhan, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are racing to build "regional" private equity funds. Rivalries between different regional private equity funds were already evident when the Beijing-based Tsinghua Unigroup outmaneuvered the Shanghai Pudong Science and Technology Investment Co. (PDSTI) to buy Shanghai-based Spreadtrum. Meanwhile PDSTI, not to be outdone by Beijing, unveiled a plan to acquire Montage Technology of Shanghai. PDSTI is also a part of the investment group that has offered to buy OmniVision.
China's national blueprint for semiconductor industry development is far from the stodgy, top-down model of the planned economy era, according to China hands familiar with the industry. Today, it's much more "market-driven."
A case in point is that the money made available by the government and China's private investment funds isn't just for investing in Chinese companies. The funds can go global to acquire technologies and companies with the best potential to expand China's semiconductor industry. The OmniVision deal would fit that bill, according to Lu.
China to follow Taiwan's playbook
It's well known that the Chinese government isn't happy about the widening gap between the number of chips China imports from multinationals and the volume China produces on its own.
China's integrated circuit consumption and production comparison. Source: "Continuing to Grow, China's Impact on the Semiconductor Industry, 2013 update," PwC
If history is any indication, every nation has harbored similar concerns. In other countries, the solution has been a national industrial policy to develop home-grown semiconductor production.
Lu observes that China has decided to follow Taiwan's playbook, rather than pursuing models practised by Korea, Japan, Europe, or the United States.
The Taiwan playbook, in a nutshell, is about creating a service model, says Lu. Taiwan first launched the foundry business, including such companies as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and UMC, as a mother ship. Taiwan, in parallel, developed additional service-related businesses ranging from design services to packaging, equipment maintenance, and wafer-level testing companies. The mother ship, then, spawned a cluster of IC design houses—described by Lu as "a fleet."
It took Taiwan 15 years before consumption and production of chips got even, says Lu. Back in 1990, Taiwan's National Subµm Project, led by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, began. The project enabled Taiwan to build 8-inch wafer technology for design and manufacturing, thus facilitating growing investment in the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. In 2005, the semiconductor exports exceeded the country's total imports.
Source: Etron Technology
Lu predicts that it will only take 10 years for China to reach that break-even point. The next couple of years, however, will be critical, he feels. China's policymakers hope to show early signs of growth in a key business, in employment and technology, that matters to China's economy.
Who's behind the national plan?
As Lu tells the story, those who have drawn up the National Framework for Development of the Integrated Circuit Industry are an elite team—fewer than 10 people. Consisting of physicists, private equity people, and technology experts, the team composes the national semiconductor office, which sits right next to China's prime minister's office. Their goal is to find the most effective and meaningful path for China's semiconductor industry to plot its own future.
"I have a lot of respect for the intelligence of policymakers in China," says Lu.
Of course, a national plan without engineering talent can only produce empty promises. China, however, is ready to up its game, according to Lu, both in terms of the fundamental science and the volume of talented engineers to carry out some of the toughest projects.
He cautioned us: "Don't judge China just by looking at today's China." More important is what China is capable of doing in the next 10 years.
Consider the example of the fundamental science for developing a 3D topological insulator, says Lu. A project that originated at Stanford University now has a group of scientists at Tsinghua University (Prof S.C. Chang's group) and the China Academy of Science vigorously working on it.
Further, take note of the 400,000 students graduating from universities in China every year with engineering degrees. Fifty per cent have degrees in integrated circuits, according to Lu. Where else in the world could higher education pump out so many students with engineering degrees?
Accountability
Let's face it. China doesn't exactly have the best record of accountability when government gets involved in spreading around investment money. Even projects that started out with the best of intentions have failed as money disappeared somewhere along the food chain. How do you ensure the accountability of the National Framework for Development of the Integrated Circuit Industry?
Several things need to happen, notes Lu. First, policymakers must show results. They need to demonstrate that the policy can generate better domestic jobs. They also need to encourage China's system companies to design with parts produced in China. The use of domestic components is especially encouraged for "special-use" products such as military applications. Policymakers also need to demonstrate the use of the domestic chips in such applications as IoT and healthcare systems that will be particularly helpful in improving the lives of Chinese people, he says.
Source: PWC
By choosing credible and successful companies (foreign and domestic) as targets for investment, China is seeking to produce results quickly, Lu says. That's why he views the next two years as critical.
Unlike the old China, which often insisted on developing domestic versions of global standards (e.g., VCD vs DVD) so that it could avoid paying licensing fees or royalties, the success of China's new policy hinges upon following international rules, Lu points out. Instead of pursuing a domestic standard for the sake of, say, a home-grown operating system, China must put commercial deals first.
In sum, China is at a threshold. China is ready. If it succeeds in the OmniVision acquisition, China can easily take OminVision's business away from TSMC and bring it to SMIC. As far as Lu is concerned, "The game is fair, and things in China are moving faster than ever."
Other regions in the world, on the other hand, have only themselves to blame if China bypasses them. As Lu concluded, innovation is the only way for us to differentiate ourselves.
In 2013, China's semiconductor consumption market grew by 10.1 per cent (more than double the worldwide market growth of 4.8 per cent). It has reached a new record of 55.6 per cent of the global market. Ongoing global demand for smartphones and tablets is the main reason for this continued strong growth in China's semiconductor consumption and will continue to be a factor in the coming years.
China wants global semiconductor leverage
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Beidou2020
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Nuclear medicine equipment enters international market
Top Grade Healthcare, a medical equipment company located in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, has signed a sales agreement with a cancer treatment center in Philadelphia, People's Daily reported on Tuesday.
The company will sell its medicine equipment, including PET–CT and PET–MRI, and its medical electron linear accelerator, the LA45, to the hospital. The diagnostic equipment is driven by nuclear technology, and this deal marks its first step into the international market.
The company's nuclear medicine equipment system won the National Award for Science and Technology Progress in January of this year.
Top Grade Healthcare, a medical equipment company located in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, has signed a sales agreement with a cancer treatment center in Philadelphia, People's Daily reported on Tuesday.
The company will sell its medicine equipment, including PET–CT and PET–MRI, and its medical electron linear accelerator, the LA45, to the hospital. The diagnostic equipment is driven by nuclear technology, and this deal marks its first step into the international market.
The company's nuclear medicine equipment system won the National Award for Science and Technology Progress in January of this year.
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LeveragedBuyout
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It appears that China finally gets it. The best way to secure the future of China's semiconductor industry is to strictly enforce IP rights.
Beidou2020
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When it comes to chips for powering smartphones, it has long been a story of the world's leading smartphone chip-maker -- US firm Qualcomm. This time, it is a Chinese-made chip that has caught the eye of market observers.
The octa-core Kirin 920, unveiled by Huawei-owned HiSilicon on Friday, features support for QHD displays, 4K video recording and a high-speed LTE category-6 platform, something even the global industry leaders find it difficult to offer.
While it is too early to say this signals the rise of China in the global mobile processor market, the news should still come as a boon to the country's IT sector, especially the chip-making industry, which has been lagging far behind the world heavyweights.
China relies heavily on imported chips, which are among the country's top four import categories in terms of value, along with oil, iron ore and LCD panels.
As its reliance on foreign oil and iron ore cannot be reversed overnight, China has been working hard to promote the other two industries.
China has become less reliant on LCD panel imports in recent years, as its two leading makers of the panels, BOE and TCL, have been making strides in innovation. However, chips, known as the "heart" of the digital information industry for their importance, continue to be imported in massive quantities.
With China's smartphone market booming, the country imported $232.2 billion worth of integrated circuits, generally known as chips, in 2013, up 34.6 percent year on year, according to customs authorities.
The figure was higher than the $219.6 billion worth of imported oil for the year, making chips top the list of imports, resulting in a trade deficit of $144.1 billion for the industry, which had been expanding for four years in a row.
However, there is still a long way to go before China can significantly reduce its chip imports.
Li Mingjun, deputy secretary general of the Shenzhen Semiconductor Industry Association, was quoted by local media as saying that most Chinese chip-makers are still only capable of making medium-to-low-end chips.
In addition, China's chip-making firms are still too small to challenge the US dominance of the market, at least in the near future
Qualcomm registered a business revenue of $17.3 billion in 2013, up 31.6 percent from a year earlier. The business revenue of HiSilicon, China's leading chip-maker, was only one eighth of Qualcomm's last year.
Another obstacle preventing HiSilicon's Kirin 920 from challenging the dominance of Qualcomm and other US players is Huawei's reluctance to do so.
Huawei is not aiming to export its chips and does not see them as a stand-alone product, the 21st Century Business Herald quoted Xu Zhijun, deputy president of Huawei, as saying.
Xu said, "The strategy we adopt is one plus one or one plus N," which means that for every HiSilicon chip that Huawei incorporates in its products, it will integrate one chip or more from other suppliers.
The reason for this is that Huawei doesn't want to stir concerns with Qualcomm or other industry giants, fearing such a situation might affect chip supplies, the Herald reported.
Huawei was taught a tough lesson in March 2012 when it unveiled its quad-core processor K3V2 and said it would use the new chips in its Ascend D smartphones.
The new mobile phones appeared on the market several months later than planned. A source close to Huawei told the Herald that the delay was at least partly down to the high-profile release of the chips making its screen supplier Samsung nervous and leading it to stall the supply.
"We can only lead US companies in sectors the size of a needle. But it is out of the question for our lead to expand to sectors the size of a matchstick," said Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder and CEO, during a speech earlier this year when publishing the firm's 2013 annual report.
The octa-core Kirin 920, unveiled by Huawei-owned HiSilicon on Friday, features support for QHD displays, 4K video recording and a high-speed LTE category-6 platform, something even the global industry leaders find it difficult to offer.
While it is too early to say this signals the rise of China in the global mobile processor market, the news should still come as a boon to the country's IT sector, especially the chip-making industry, which has been lagging far behind the world heavyweights.
China relies heavily on imported chips, which are among the country's top four import categories in terms of value, along with oil, iron ore and LCD panels.
As its reliance on foreign oil and iron ore cannot be reversed overnight, China has been working hard to promote the other two industries.
China has become less reliant on LCD panel imports in recent years, as its two leading makers of the panels, BOE and TCL, have been making strides in innovation. However, chips, known as the "heart" of the digital information industry for their importance, continue to be imported in massive quantities.
With China's smartphone market booming, the country imported $232.2 billion worth of integrated circuits, generally known as chips, in 2013, up 34.6 percent year on year, according to customs authorities.
The figure was higher than the $219.6 billion worth of imported oil for the year, making chips top the list of imports, resulting in a trade deficit of $144.1 billion for the industry, which had been expanding for four years in a row.
However, there is still a long way to go before China can significantly reduce its chip imports.
Li Mingjun, deputy secretary general of the Shenzhen Semiconductor Industry Association, was quoted by local media as saying that most Chinese chip-makers are still only capable of making medium-to-low-end chips.
In addition, China's chip-making firms are still too small to challenge the US dominance of the market, at least in the near future
Qualcomm registered a business revenue of $17.3 billion in 2013, up 31.6 percent from a year earlier. The business revenue of HiSilicon, China's leading chip-maker, was only one eighth of Qualcomm's last year.
Another obstacle preventing HiSilicon's Kirin 920 from challenging the dominance of Qualcomm and other US players is Huawei's reluctance to do so.
Huawei is not aiming to export its chips and does not see them as a stand-alone product, the 21st Century Business Herald quoted Xu Zhijun, deputy president of Huawei, as saying.
Xu said, "The strategy we adopt is one plus one or one plus N," which means that for every HiSilicon chip that Huawei incorporates in its products, it will integrate one chip or more from other suppliers.
The reason for this is that Huawei doesn't want to stir concerns with Qualcomm or other industry giants, fearing such a situation might affect chip supplies, the Herald reported.
Huawei was taught a tough lesson in March 2012 when it unveiled its quad-core processor K3V2 and said it would use the new chips in its Ascend D smartphones.
The new mobile phones appeared on the market several months later than planned. A source close to Huawei told the Herald that the delay was at least partly down to the high-profile release of the chips making its screen supplier Samsung nervous and leading it to stall the supply.
"We can only lead US companies in sectors the size of a needle. But it is out of the question for our lead to expand to sectors the size of a matchstick," said Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder and CEO, during a speech earlier this year when publishing the firm's 2013 annual report.
Beidou2020
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China is not South Korea.
China is the largest chip consumer and any domestic rival that can replace foreign chips will be fully supported. China has already been looking to replace foreign chip brands on domestic smartphones (which dominate the Chinese market) to reduce the import of chips and to reduce the dominance of Qualcomm.
Kirin 925 is already used on Huawei's latest smartphone.
Huawei is a giant in the smartphone business already and growing fast.
Kirin will be fully supported in China as its a domestic rival to Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip. It's about replacing foreign brands in China in all industries.
he-man
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Don't waste my time with jingo claims..............no big company uses huawei chip as of now except huawei itself.
And it uses exactly same specs as samsung exynos with 4 cores of cortex a15 and 4 cores of cortex a7.
Even gpu is same mali 628.
Yes making it is commendable though.
But tegra k1 is much ahead than snapdragon 805,kirin and exynos especially its gpu
cirr
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Huawei won't make its processors available to other smartphone makers any time soon for a very simple reason：
conflict of interests。
Huawei‘s Kirin series of mobile chips are as good as any and will continue to get better。
jkroo
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