Huawei Technologies may equip future flagship smartphones, including P and Mate series handsets, with Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, Huawei Central reported on Friday, citing IThomes.
The unconfirmed report would indicate a change from the Chinese tech giant's Kirin chipsets, which ceased production in August over trade restrictions imposed by Washington's ongoing trade war with China.
The news comes after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) applied for licences to supply Huawei with semiconductors, but will be limited to "mature" 28-nanometre or larger chipsets, SINA Finance reported last month.
The embattled Chinese tech giant also announced on Tuesday a $15.2bn sale of its Honor budget smartphone brand to Digital China and investors in the Shenzhen government.
But according to accounting consultancy KPMG, China's chipmaking industry will lead to fresh opportunities and "sound and continuous" growth in numerous emerging technologies, including chipsets, 5G, artificial intelligence an others.
Chinese officials have also sought help from over 100 engineers and staff from TMSC in order to build mainland 12nm and 14nm semiconductors, the Nikkei Asian Review reported in August, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The Trump administration targeted Huawei, ZTE, SMIC, TikTok's ByteDance and numerous others with blacklists and trade restrictions, citing national security risks, prompting sharp criticism from tech firms and the Chinese government.