Huawei's base station teardown shows dependence on US-made parts

American products account for nearly 30% of the Chinese group's baseband unit

Huawei 5G Base Station Components Teardown Nikkei 20200911

TSMC chips are at the heart of a key component, known as the baseband, of Huawei's 5G base stations.

NORIO MATSUMOTO and NAOKI WATANABE, Nikkei staff writers

TOKYO -- Huawei Technologies still remains heavily dependent on U.S.-made chips and components for manufacturing equipment for 5G telecom base stations, a leading revenue source for the Chinese tech giant, while being battered by the fierce fight between America and China over who controls the technologies of the future.

A breakdown by Nikkei of Huawei's core base station unit for fifth generation wireless networks has revealed that parts from U.S. suppliers make up nearly 30% of the product in value terms. The dissection has also shown that the main semiconductor device in the unit was supplied by a Taiwanese contract manufacturer.

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