Ever since the US government added Huawei to the ‘Entity List’, the firm has been struggling hard to carry out its businesses worldwide. To minimize stress, the company has been partnering up with multiple non-US based corporations. The latest organization to join hands with the Chinese tech giant is STMicroelectronics with which it has struck a deal to design and manufacture chips for automotive and mobile devices.
According to a report by Nikkei Asian Review, Huawei’s partnership with the Geneva-headquartered STMicroelectronics in developing chips is said to have begun as early as last year but it has been only made public now. Since Huawei cannot work with US-based firms as well as companies using technologies originating from the US, it has been selectively looking partners.
Since the US government is expected to broaden trade restrictions for Huawei by including TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) as it uses US-based technologies, the Chinese telecom giant is thought to have inked a deal with STMicro as a backup. For the unaware, TSMC plays a key role in manufacturing Huawei’s HiSilicon range of chips that power the company’s smartphones and network equipment.
Additionally, Huawei has collaborated with STMicroelectronics as it is known for automotive sensor chips such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, motion, optical and image sensors. The Chinese tech giant has a keen interest in the smart automotive industry for years. Partnering with STMicro can help it get close to companies like Tesla and BMW, who are customers of the French-Italian chip manufacturer.
Although the end-goal of Huawei’s partnership with STMicroelectronics is to build chips for smart automotive solutions, the companies will initially design and manufacture chips for Honor as well as Huawei branded smartphones.
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(Source)
