What Huawei’s New Mate 60 Means for China, the U.S. and the Global Tech Industry
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Visitors experience Huawei's Mate 60 at Huawei's flagship store in Shanghai, China, September 24, 2023. Credit: Costfoto/NurPhoto via AP Images
Huawei, the Chinese telecom heavyweight, is back in the headlines with its new Mate 60 series smartphones. After being hit by U.S. export controls, which took away its ability to use the latest semiconductors, and having been denied access to Google's software since 2019, Huawei appeared to be fading. So the official launch on September 25 of the Mate series, and other products using Huawei’s new homegrown chips, was a big deal in the industry.
The new chip’s development means Huawei’s devices can once again compete with other companies operating within the current generation of mobile wireless capability. U.S. export controls had, since 2020, cut the company off from using its self-designed advanced semiconductors, which were previously produced at Taiwanese chip making giant TSMC’s foundries.
Huawei has been clawing its way back into the consumer handset business ever since. While it has developed its own mobile operating system, HarmonyOS, designing the chips at
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