BEIJING, September 19 (TMTPost)— Huawei Technologies’ management remained cautious on technological development in China even though the company has waged counterattack with an strong sales of its latest 5G smartphone.

Credit：Visual China

China's semiconductor manufacturing technology will be a laggard that has to play catch up for a long time, therefore, the country’s computing industry cannot be promoted and made any progress unless widespread usage of domestically made chips, servers, and personal computers (PCs), Huawei’s rotating chairman Xu Zhijun stated at the 2023 World Computing Conference kicked off in Changsha, capital of central China’s Hunan province, according to the state-run newspaper Shanghai Securities News.

Xu warns of the long-term challenges for China’s semiconductor manufacturing due to U.S. and its allies’ restrictions. While China-made chips, servers and computers are still lagging behind overseas competitors, if we don’t’ use them in large scale, the gap will never be closed and China will always be the laggard, Xu said, adding that such usage could accelerate improvement in the whole technology and products, and then slowly catch up,

Xu called for unswervingly building a computing ecosystem because the sustainable growth can only be achieved through prosperity of the ecosystem. He believes that since whatever large model or artificial intelligence (AI) technology needs continuous training, the sooner it is developed based on a sustainable forward-looking ecosystem, the more investment efficiency and brighter future it will bring about.

“Currently, China’s general computing industry is moving forward in the form of three ecosystems: the X86 ecosystem, the Pengteng ecosystem and the RISC-V open-source ecosystem. These ecosystems will evolve in parallel for a long time, and we will ultimately see which one can support us in the face of the future." Xu said. He revealed that Huawei and the state-run China Electronics Technology Group Corporation Limited are stepping up the merger of Kunpeng ecosystem and PKS ecosystem into Pengteng ecosystem, and are launching a series of pro-software policies to improve development of the ecosystem.

Xu’s remark came as Huawei surprised the world with latest flagship smartphone that marked 5G comeback. The Chinese tech giant unexpectedly launched a presale for Mate 60 Pro priced at RMB6,999 (US$960) on August 29 even though it has not officially released the model. The low-profile presale turned out such a success that the first batch of the phone sold out within hours, igniting fervor for Huawei’s 5G comeback in China.

While Huawei didn’t provide details about technical specifications or whether the phone supports the 5G network, Chinese media outlets said online tests proved Mate 60 Pro can deliver the internet speed of 5G. Multiple reports attributed Mate 60’s 5G connectivity to Kirin 9000s chipset, which was deemed as evidence that Huawei managed to defy years of U.S. sanctions. Although the network speed test tool displays 4G LTE network, actual test results surpass the theoretical limit of 150Mbps, reaching over 800Mbps, fully meeting 5G network speed standards.

A teardown video of Mate 60 Pro showed that the Kirin 9000s is labeled as 2035-CN, where "CN" represents production in Chinese mainland, indicating that the chip is manufactured by domestic contract factories. A report from China Central Television hailed Mate 60 Pro as a mobile empowered by a "Made-in-China chip", confirming the key part is made by Huawei's domestic supplier.

Huawei announced last week that it will hold an official launch event on September 25. While the company didn’t reveal what products will be released, Mate 60 series, the phone that generated buzz among Chinese customers, is undoubtedly on the spotlight. The event may reveal details about the reported 5G chip. In addition to the Mate60 series and Mate X5, the industry expects that Huawei will launch more new products such as tablets, smart watches, smart screens, headphones, the state-run newspaper Shanghai Securities News reported. The high-end version of the Mate60 series that has not yet been unveiled is also expected to roll out at the event.