MediaTek has denied the reports that it’ll be indirectly supplying TSMC chips to Huawei. The Taiwanese chipmaker said it will follow all relevant global trade laws and regulations and will not be involved in any unethical business means.
For the uninitiated, a Japanese news agency recently claimed that MediaTek will be supplying Huawei with TSMC chips indirectly. The report explicitly mentioned that the chipmaker would buy chips from TSMC, label them as its own, and sell them to Huawei. The company has now come out and denied the allegations.
A MediaTek spokesperson has clarified that the company will not make any such arrangements for Huawei, or for that matter, for any other customer.
It is reportedly mulling legal action against the Japanese news agency for making false claims and affecting the company’s credibility. It has asked the concerned agency to retract the report.
MediaTek will not be supplying TSMC chips to Huawei indirectly
The US government tightened the trade restrictions on Huawei last month. The Trump administration blocked foundries using American software and technology from supplying chips to the Chinese phone maker.
While Huawei’s fully-owned chipmaker HiSilicon designs its own Kirin chips, it relies on TSMC for their manufacturing. The recent change in rules means TSMC could no longer manufacture the Kirin chips for Huawei.
The Chinese company is expectedly looking for alternatives and MediaTek is one viable option. A report last month claimed that it has increased orders for MediaTek processors by 300 percent this year.
Now that the latter has denied reports of it indirectly supplying TSMC chips to Huawei, we might see MediaTek processors in most of the upcoming Huawei phones.
Huawei is reportedly negotiating with the Taiwanese chipmaker for its Dimensity 5G chipsets. If the two reach a deal, MediaTek could become the company’s largest supplier of chips for its flagship phones. Neither of the companies has confirmed these reports, though.
For its low-end phones, Huawei could move to Shanghai, China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) for supplying chips.
It has already moved production from TSMC to SMIC. However, since SMIC’s most advanced chip as of now is based on a 14nm process, those chips aren’t fit enough for high-end phones.
The company has reportedly already begun work on 7nm nodes and might catch up with the competition pretty quickly. After all, it recently received huge funding from national investors. The Chinese chipmaker could very well become a long-term partner of its compatriot Huawei.