Huawei's HiSilicon Surpasses Qualcomm to Lead China's Smartphone Chip Market
Huawei's chip unit HiSilicon overtakes Qualcomm as China's top smartphone processor supplier for the first time as the broader market slumps amid the pandemic.
Huawei's in-house chip design unit, HiSilicon, overtakes US giant Qualcomm as China's top smartphone processor supplier for the first time. According to a report by Chinese research firm CINNO, HiSilicon ships 22.21 million smartphone processors in the first quarter of 2020. This milestone gives the Huawei subsidiary a 43.9 percent market share, up significantly from 36.5 percent during the same period last year.
HiSilicon achieves this historic lead primarily because it is the only major chip supplier that does not experience a year-on-year decline in shipments during the quarter. The broader Chinese smartphone market faces severe disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic, leading to delayed product launches and plummeting consumer demand. Overall smartphone processor shipments in the country plummet by 44.5 percent in the first three months of 2020.
Meanwhile, long-time market leader Qualcomm sees its market share slide from 37.8 percent to 32.8 percent, dropping the US firm to second place. Taiwan's MediaTek holds onto its third-place position but also suffers a year-on-year decline in market share. The dramatic shift highlights how the pandemic unevenly impacts the industry, allowing Huawei to capitalize on the relative stability of its own supply chain.