Following US sanctions in August 2019, Huawei’s internal operating system backup, HarmonyOS, emerged and has been in development for nearly 5 years. Currently, HarmonyOS is widely recognized, and its native version is set to launch on June 21st, marking the cornerstone of Huawei’s ambitious HarmonyOS project.

According to a report from UDN, Huawei is pursuing a dual-track development strategy for HarmonyOS. Internally, it focuses on its “1+8+N” terminal business strategy: “1” refers to smartphones, “8” includes large screens (TVs), tablets, PCs, wearables, car units, and more, while “N” covers a wide range of IoT devices. This approach aims to expand and flourish the HarmonyOS ecosystem.

In essence, HarmonyOS follows two main paths, while the first shares similar market positioning with current market leaders Android and iOS in the consumer sector, primarily focused on Huawei’s own terminal devices, aiming to expand the HarmonyOS ecosystem within the consumer domain.

The second path is OpenHarmony, also known as Open Source HarmonyOS. Reportedly, this initiative involves Huawei’s ecosystem partners leveraging Huawei’s donated OpenHarmony code base to develop their own commercial versions of HarmonyOS. These partners utilize their industry expertise and resources to vertically expand into sectors such as education, finance, transportation, and more. OpenHarmony primarily targets industrial applications.

Vertically, Huawei is reportedly looking to integrate HarmonyOS and OpenHarmony through foundational technology, establishing interoperability and connectivity to create an unified HarmonyOS. This strategic integration is designed to position HarmonyOS as a world-class operating system for the future IoT, aligning with Huawei’s ultimate goal of establishing HarmonyOS as a global IoT OS.

Recently, the unified device interconnection technology standards for OpenHarmony were officially released. Huawei’s Consumer Business Group Chairman, Richard Yu, recently disclosed plans to unify application and service ecosystems across Harmony OS and the commercial versions of OpenHarmony. This initiative aims to enhance consumer and industry experiences by sharing a unified HarmonyOS ecosystem that includes programming languages, compilers, and tools, thereby constructing a comprehensive smart terminal operating system.

Huawei is also said to be advancing another significant vertical initiative: the native HarmonyOS. Currently, Huawei has successfully developed the entire stack of HarmonyOS as an independent Chinese-made operating system, contrasting with the majority of global operating systems such as Android and iOS, which are based on the Linux or Unix kernel.

Huawei’s recent strides not only shape the future of HarmonyOS and OpenHarmony but also bolster Huawei’s autonomy and control. These developments are crucial for China’s tech enterprises, providing resilience against potential US sanctions. Whether in consumer or industrial sectors, the Mega HarmonyOS can be activated promptly, underscoring why numerous Chinese companies are joining the HarmonyOS ecosystem.

According to sources cited in a report from Reuters, it’s said that IC design giant MediaTek is developing an ARM-based PC chip that will run Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Last month, Microsoft unveiled a new generation of laptops featuring ARM-based chips, which provide sufficient computing power to run AI applications. Its executives stated that this represents the future trend of consumer computing. MediaTek’s latest development of an ARM-based PC chip is said to be geared toward these types of laptops.

The same report indicates that Microsoft’s move plans to take aim at Apple, which has been using ARM-based chips in its Mac computers for about four years. Microsoft’s decision to optimize Windows using ARM-based chips could further pose a threat to Intel’s long-standing dominance in the PC market.

Regarding this matter, both MediaTek and Microsoft declined to comment.

Reportedly, according to industry sources, MediaTek’s PC chip is scheduled to launch by the end of next year, coinciding with the expiration of Qualcomm’s exclusive agreement to supply chips for laptops. MediaTek’s chip, based on ARM’s existing designs, will significantly accelerate the development process by less design work.

It is currently unclear whether Microsoft has approved MediaTek’s PC chip for supporting the Copilot+ feature in Windows programs.

ARM executives have stated that one of their clients used ready-made components to complete a chip design in about nine months, although this client was not MediaTek. For experienced chip designers, creating and testing advanced chips typically takes more than a year, depending on the complexity.

In the latest press release from TrendForce, MediaTek’s strategy in the PC domain is also highlighted. Reportedly, the Arm chip co-developed by MediaTek and NVIDIA, with adoption of Wi-Fi 7 and 5G, is also slated to occupy a spot in the AI NB market since 2Q25, and initiate a new wave of technical innovation after 2025. According to TrendForce’s forecast, Arm chips are likely to surpass 20% in market penetration at an accelerated velocity in 2025.

Read more

• [News] MediaTek Reportedly Partners with Meta, Entering the Battleground of AI against Apple and Qualcomm
• [News] MediaTek Announces 4nm Dimensity 7300 Series Chips, Supporting Foldable Devices

(Photo credit: MediaTek)

The upcoming iPhone 16 series from Apple is set to debut in the latter half of the year, and according to a report from Korean media outlet “The Elec,” LG Display, a major panel manufacturer in South Korea, has secured OLED panel orders from Apple for the iPhone 16 Pro Max model, ahead of its rival Samsung.

Earlier in May, both LG Display and Samsung Display secured orders for OLED panels for Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro, according to the report. Subsequently, LG Display also has acquired orders for iPhone 16 Pro Max panels, which could be the first time ever for LG Display to be ahead of Samsung display. 

Reports indicate that LG Display failed to secure the initial batch of orders for OLED panels for the iPhone 15 Pro last year, with the majority of orders going to its competitor Samsung Display. This bolstered Samsung Display’s profitability significantly. However, this year, LG Display has finally regained its footing by securing orders for both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models, marking a turnaround in its fortunes.

However, Samsung Display continues to firmly hold orders for OLED panels for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus models, while LG Display is responsible only for supplying OLED panels for the higher-end positioned iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models.

Previous revelations from South Korean source yeux1122 also indicated that LG Display holds a higher share than Samsung Display in the supply of OLED screens for Apple’s new iPad Pro.

Read more

• [News] Leak Reveals LGD as the Largest Supplier of Apple’s OLED iPad Pro Screen

(Photo credit: Apple)

According to a report from South China Morning Post, Wang Tao, Executive Director, Chairman of the ICT Infrastructure Managing Board at Huawei, recently stated at the World Semiconductor Conference and Nanjing International Semiconductor Expo that Huawei’s advanced Ascend 910B AI chip achieves an efficiency of up to 80% compared to NVIDIA’s A100 when training large-scale language models. In terms of specific test performance, it surpasses NVIDIA’s A100 AI GPU by 20%.

Reportedly, leading Chinese companies such as Tencent Holdings and Baidu have also purchased the Ascend 910B chip for conference tasks, indicating substantial market adoption of the chip and encroaching on NVIDIA’s AI chip market share.

Huawei’s self-developed AI chip, the Ascend 910B, adopts the advanced Da Vinci architecture and supports various AI computing tasks such as deep learning and inference. The chip boasts computing capabilities of up to 320 TFLOPS in half-precision (FP16) and 640 TOPS in integer precision (INT8), all while consuming 310W of power.

Reportedly, it’s expected that Chinese tech giants may now be considering a shift towards local AI products, which could pose a challenge to NVIDIA. Currently, China accounts for 17% of NVIDIA’s revenue in the 2024 fiscal year, making the competition in the Chinese market increasingly fierce for NVIDIA.

According to a previous report from Reuters, NVIDIA, in response to the US ban on high-end chips, provided three chips specifically for the Chinese market, with the H20 chip receiving significant attention.

Hence, there are reports of a price reduction for the H20 chip to stimulate demand and address the intense competition from Huawei in the Chinese market. It’s reported that the price of the H20 chip is over 10% lower than Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip. The chip is reportedly to be sold at approximately 100,000 yuan per unit, while Huawei 910B sold at over 120,000 yuan per unit.

Read more

• [News] NVIDIA Reportedly Facing Price Cut Pressure of H20 Chip in China Amid Competition with Huawei
• [News] Hurdles in Acquiring NVIDIA’s High-End Products: Assessing the Progress of Eight Chinese AI Chip Companies in Self-Development

(Photo credit: Huawei)

The continuous increase in silicon content driven by AI servers, high-performance computing (HPC) applications, and the AI integration of high-end smartphones has led to a surge in demand for semiconductors. According to a report from the Economic Daily News, major companies such as Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and AMD are reportedly securing substantial production capacity for TSMC’s 3nm process family. This has resulted in a queue of clients stretching all the way to 2026.

TSMC has a consistent policy of not commenting on individual client information. Regarding whether the high demand for production capacity will lead to price increases to reflect its value, TSMC emphasizes that its pricing strategy is always strategically oriented rather than opportunistically driven. TSMC will continue to work closely with clients to provide value.

As per sources cited by the same report, TSMC is not a company that raises prices arbitrarily. Reflecting value does not equate directly to price increases, even though the company holds a leading edge in advanced process technology. There are various ways for TSMC to demonstrate value to its customers.

The members of TSMC’s 3nm family include N3, N3E, N3P, as well as N3X and N3A. As the existing N3 technology continues to be upgraded, N3E, which began mass production in the fourth quarter of last year, targets applications such as AI accelerators, high-end smartphones, and data centers. N3P is scheduled for mass production in the second half of this year and is expected to become mainstream for applications in mobile devices, consumer products, base stations, and networking through 2026. N3X and N3A are customized for high-performance computing and automotive clients.

Source: TSMC

Industry sources cited by Economic Daily News in the report believe that with clients rushing to book production capacity, TSMC’s 3nm family will continue to experience tight supply over the next two years. This does not yet include Intel’s outsourcing demand for CPUs.

Due to the fact that TSMC’s 3nm family production capacity has already been fully allocated by customers for this year and next, the company’s plan to triple the relevant capacity this year compared to last year is still insufficient. To ensure an uninterrupted supply for the next two years, TSMC has implemented several measures to expand its production capacity.

Previously, during an earnings call, the company announced that due to robust demand, its strategy includes converting some 5nm equipment to support 3nm production. Industry sources cited by the report also reveal that TSMC’s total 3nm family capacity is continuously increasing, with monthly production capacity expected to reach between 120,000 and 180,000 wafers.

Meanwhile, the sources cited by the Economic Daily News indicate that the main sources of orders for TSMC’s 3nm family include major clients such as Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and AMD. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 16 series as early as September, which is anticipated to be the first iPhone with AI capabilities, potentially sparking a new wave of upgrades among Apple fans.

Source: TSMC

Read more

• [News] NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Supports C.C. Wei’s Theory and Backs for TSMC to Increase Price
• [News] TSMC Says Tripling 3nm Capacity This Year Still Not Enough

(Photo credit: TSMC)