The Financial Times, with the support of TechInsights specialists, managed to assess the degree of import substitution of components and software in the Huawei Qingyun L540 laptop, which is intended for the domestic Chinese market and is probably forced to be popular in the public procurement segment. More than half of its electronic components in value terms are of Chinese origin, according to experts.
It should be noted that when assembling this laptop, the Chinese managed to replace not only Microsoft operating systems, but also application software. The platform used is the Unity operating system, based on Linux. An office application package, a multimedia player and a photo editor of Chinese development are provided. In particular, the application package of the Chinese company Kingsoft is responsible for editing text documents with the file extension “.wps”. Files with this extension have already appeared on the official websites of Chinese authorities.
“Import substitution” of hardware turned out to be somewhat more difficult. As a central processor, laptops of this model use the 5-nm HiSilison Kirin 9006C chip, which was produced by TSMC before the introduction of US sanctions. It includes four Cortex-A77 cores with a frequency of up to 3.13 GHz and four more Cortex-A55 with a frequency of up to 2.05 GHz. The processor also includes an integrated Mali-G78 MP22 graphics core. Huawei is still forced to use old stocks of these processors, which it formed in anticipation of the entry into force of US sanctions.
The laptop’s USB controller was developed by the American company Microchip. The controller manufacturer does not explain how it got into the Huawei laptop. However, South Korean SK hynix “distinguished itself” twice in this FT and TechInsights report. Firstly, it turned out to be a supplier of RAM chips for this laptop. Secondly, the laptop’s solid-state drive also turned out to be a carrier of memory chips of this Korean brand. Specific copies of the chips were packaged around December 14, 2020, at the Chinese SK hynix plant. At that time, US sanctions against Huawei were already in effect, and the Korean supplier claims that it strictly complies with all export restrictions.
Huawei supplies these laptops with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth controllers on its own, and the sound amplifier is built on a Chinese Goodix chip. Overall, $109 of the $182 cost of the chips in this laptop is for components of Chinese origin, with the most important of them transferred to “domestic supplies”. This can definitely be considered a success in the context of tough Western sanctions against China. At least Chinese government agencies and companies with state participation were not left without new computers.
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Source: 3dnews.ru
