Asa Fitch and Dan Strumpf report that a Huawei Mate 30 has been manufactured without any US parts. I’ve been reporting since May that Huawei would break its dependence on US components. It has done so already with 5G radios, now shipping hundreds of thousands per quarter.
The image above shows a Qualcomm front end module in a Nov 7 teardown of a Mate 30 Pro 5G by Techinsights. There were two other US components, but Huawei has done an exceptional job gaining independence. It made few if any radio frequency parts eight months ago. HiSilicon now has a wide selection of RF.
The Mate 30 Pro 5G is much more demanding than the 4G version. It has to filter and amplify more than 2 dozen frequency bands at 5G speeds. It makes sense it’s taking a little longer to replace everything in the 5G version.
5G requires truly state of the art radio frequency parts. Murata was the only non-US manufacturer with the technology. Qorvo and Skyworks were the acknowledged leaders. Last month, both companies told investors they were still ahead.
Fitch and Strumpf relied on a teardown by Minatake Toshio of Fomalhaut. I’m reaching out for more details.