Huawei’s new flagship smartphones use South Korean memory chips, not Chinese ones

Huawei Technologies’ newest sequence of flagship smartphones accommodates reminiscence chips made by South Korean semiconductor provider SK Hynix, in keeping with analysis agency TechInsights, as Chinese language-made choices stay restricted amid a US-led export ban on superior chipmaking tools to the mainland.

In a teardown report printed final week, analysts on the Canadian agency mentioned they discovered SK Hynix’s 12-gigabyte low-power cell DRAM and 512GB NAND inside a Huawei Mate 70 Professional handset. The upper-end Mate 70 Professional Plus featured the identical NAND and a 16GB DRAM from SK Hynix.

SK Hynix manufactured these cell DRAM units utilizing 14-nanometre know-how and superior excessive ultraviolet lithography, in keeping with TechInsights senior analyst Jeongdong Choe. NAND is a kind of reminiscence used for flash storage, whereas DRAM, quick for dynamic random-access reminiscences, is usually utilized in smartphones and computer systems.

Huawei declined to remark. SK Hynix mentioned on Thursday it “has been strictly complying with the related insurance policies because the restrictions in opposition to Huawei had been introduced and has additionally suspended any transactions with the corporate since then.”

An ad featuring the Mate70 smartphone series outside the Huawei flagship store in Shanghai. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS
An advert that includes the Mate70 smartphone sequence exterior the Huawei flagship retailer in Shanghai. Picture: Dreamstime/TNS

Whereas Huawei stunned the world in 2023 by launching its Mate 60 Professional smartphone powered by a domestically made superior chip, a lot of the model’s P and Mate sequence premium handsets from final 12 months nonetheless contained DRAM and NAND chips from SK Hynix, in keeping with TechInsights information.

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