Huawei Technologies has partnered with Chinese auto giant BYD to supply the latter with Kirin 710A chips for motors, it was reported on Monday.
“BYD has already obtained Kirin’s chip technical documents and started the developing process. Kirin chips have been in the automobile market for months. It’s now targeting BYD, hoping to launch the chip in the car model to open the market,” unnamed sources revealed on Monday in an article from Chinese tech media 36Kr.
Further cooperative projects between the world's largest IT equipment supplier and China's largest EV automaker included NFC modules for motors and HiCar smart vehicle technologies on the the sedan lineup, it was reported.
Kirin chipsets are produced by Huawei's semiconductor firm HiSilicon, namely for Huawei and Honor mobiles.
China's mainland chipmaking industry has seen a surge in investment after US president Donald Trump extended a ban on Chinese tech firms such as Huawei, ZTE and others placed on an Entity List in 2019.
Shanghai-based chip manufacturer Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) announced last month it had begun mass-producing Kirin 710 chipsets for Honor phones in a significant drive to reduce dependence on US tech products.
Honor also reportedly said it would seek to acquire MediaTek 5G Dimensity series chipsets for its products in a bid to further reduce dependence on units produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, who halted orders for Huawei products in May, citing fears of knock on effects from Washington's trade ban set to enter force in September.
Officials in Washington have routinely accused Chinese firm of being potentially used to spy for the Chinese government, which both Beijing and Huawei have slammed as false and demanded to see evidence, which the US government has failed to provide to date.
