Latest news with #HuaweiTechnologies
Business Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
Huawei tops China smartphone market for first time in years
[SINGAPORE] Huawei Technologies took the top spot in China's smartphone market for the first time in more than four years, a comeback fuelled by new designs and software that appealed to users in a slowing market. The hardware giant held on to a roughly 18 per cent share of the market in the June quarter, while other leading competitors such as Vivo and Oppo slumped, according to IDC data. The Shenzhen device maker showed greater resilience than rivals as overall shipments in China fell 4 per cent to 69 million units. Huawei's recovery follows years of US export restrictions, which spurred the company to develop its own hardware and technologies, including artificial intelligence chips. In 2024, Huawei launched several smartphones powered by domestically designed and manufactured semiconductors, including the world's first commercially available device with two folds. It's also added smartphones with its own operating system, transitioning away from Google's Android. IDC researchers saw the first decline in China shipments after six consecutive quarters of growth, attributing that to diminishing help from government subsidies. 'Despite the recent US-China trade truce, the broader economic environment presents ongoing challenges, with consumer confidence remaining subdued,' said Arthur Guo, senior research analyst at IDC China. 'A significant uplift in smartphone demand is unlikely in the immediate term.' BLOOMBERG
Nikkei Asia
20 hours ago
- Business
- Nikkei Asia
Huawei brushes aside accusations of copying Alibaba AI model
Huawei announced a slate of new large language models in June, which it said were developed in-house. (Huawei) ITSURO FUJINO, SHOGO SUGIYAMA and RYOSUKE EGUCHI GUANGZHOU/TOKYO -- China's Huawei Technologies has been accused of copying an Alibaba Group artificial intelligence large language model for its own AI, a development that has roiled the Chinese tech industry and cast a light on intellectual property issues in cutting-edge fields. The accusation stems from a paper posted this month on GitHub, a U.S. software development and sharing platform. The paper analyzed Huawei's Pangu Pro MoE large language model, released in June, and found that it showed "extraordinary correlation" with Alibaba's Qwen 2.5 14B. It said Huawei may have reused Alibaba's model.
Business Times
a day ago
- Business
- Business Times
Nvidia to resume H20 AI chip sales to China in US reversal
[HONG KONG] Nvidia plans to resume sales of its H20 artificial intelligence (AI) chip to China after securing Washington's assurances that such shipments would get approved, a dramatic reversal from the Trump administration's earlier stance. US government officials told Nvidia they would green-light export licenses for the H20 AI accelerator, the company said in a blog post. That China-specific variant was created to comply with earlier trade curbs, but has since April also been blocked from sale in the country without a US permit. Billionaire co-founder Jensen Huang appeared on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV shortly after Nvidia announced the decision, saying the company had secured approval to begin shipping. The US move comes after weeks of thawing relations between Washington and Beijing, guided by an opaque truce that's designed to see both sides approve exports of crucial technologies. The US wants China to allow more sales of essential rare-earth minerals, and in exchange is lifting a spate of recent export controls that were imposed in the lead-up to last month's trade talks in London. Throughout those talks, US President Donald Trump's team insisted that controls on Nvidia's H20 chips were not up for discussion. It marks a massive win for Huang, who has branded Washington's chip curbs a 'failure' that fuelled the rise of Huawei Technologies. And it's a boon to Chinese companies from DeepSeek to Alibaba Group Holding that need Nvidia chips to train, expand and host the AI services they are building to compete with the likes of OpenAI. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Nasdaq futures surged after Nvidia's announcement, with Hong Kong and Chinese stocks also reacting positively. The Hang Seng Tech Index rose as much as 2.2 per cent, while data centre operators such as Beijing Sinnet Technology jumped as much as 8.4 per cent. A spokesperson for the US Commerce Department, which oversees semiconductor export controls, did not respond to a request for comment. 'Nvidia resuming the sale of H20 to China is obviously positive,' said Vey-Sern Ling, managing director at Union Bancaire Privee. 'Not just for the company but also the AI semiconductor supply chain, as well as China tech platforms that are building AI capabilities. This is also a good development for US-China relations.' Huang met with Trump last week and is in Beijing this week to attend a large supply chain expo. He said Nvidia also plans to debut a new China-focused product, the RTX PRO, which the company described as 'fully compliant', meaning that it falls below the technical thresholds that would necessitate Washington's approval in the first place. He has said the US does not need to worry about the Chinese military using Nvidia chips, since it cannot rely on something the US could restrict at any point. The H20 is a less powerful version of Nvidia's gold-standard AI acceleration semiconductors, designed specifically for China. It's part of the company's response to US restrictions on AI hardware sales to China, which were first imposed in 2022 and ratcheted up several times since, capturing two successive generations of processors Nvidia made for the China market, the H800, followed by the H20. After Trump officials controlled the sale of H20 chips in April, Huang said Nvidia would suffer a cost of billions of US dollars due to unsold inventory. Huang is seeking discussions with Chinese leaders, including the commerce minister this week, with Nvidia's central role in the global AI rollout likely on the agenda. It made history last week as the first company to hit US$4 trillion of market value, a testament to its central role in providing the hardware for a post-ChatGPT AI infrastructure building boom. BLOOMBERG
Canada News.Net
2 days ago
- Business
- Canada News.Net
Middle East, Asia seen as test markets for Huawei AI chips
SHENZHEN, China: As global chip competition intensifies, Huawei Technologies is exploring new markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for its artificial intelligence hardware, according to a Bloomberg News report. The Chinese tech giant has begun offering limited quantities of its older-generation Ascend 910B AI chips to prospective buyers in countries like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand, the report said, citing sources familiar with the discussions. Huawei is positioning itself as a rival to dominant U.S. chipmaker Nvidia, which currently leads the global AI semiconductor market. While Huawei's chip offerings are relatively modest—reportedly in the low thousands—no transactions have been finalized. According to Bloomberg, the UAE has not expressed interest, and the status of talks in Thailand remains unclear. Officials from Thailand and Saudi Arabia did not respond to requests for comment. Huawei also did not reply to Reuters' inquiries. In addition to physical chips, Huawei is pitching remote access to CloudMatrix 384, a China-based AI computing platform powered by its more advanced chips. Due to supply constraints, those newer chips are not currently available for export, the report said. The Middle East has become an increasingly attractive market for AI infrastructure, with multiple U.S. tech companies announcing partnerships and sales in the region. In May, President Donald Trump announced US$600 billion in commercial commitments from Saudi Arabia to U.S. firms. Back in China, Huawei is focused on its newer 910C chips, supplying them to domestic companies that have been cut off from U.S. semiconductor imports due to export restrictions. "With the current export controls, we are effectively out of the China datacenter market, which is now served only by competitors such as Huawei," an Nvidia spokesperson said. Successive U.S. administrations have maintained tight controls on chip exports to China, citing fears that cutting-edge technology could be used to advance Beijing's military capabilities.
CNBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Australia and China: Trade flows and security tensions shape ties
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived in Shanghai on Saturday for a six-day visit to three Chinese cities where regional security tensions and economic ties are likely to dominate talks. Albanese's second visit to China, where he will meet President Xi Jinping, comes after Canberra stepped up screening of Chinese investment in critical minerals and as U.S. President Donald Trump rattles the global economy with sweeping import tariffs. Here is a timeline of relations between Australia and China over recent years: Nov. 17, 2014 - Australia sealed a landmark free trade agreement with top trade partner China, concluding a decade of negotiations. It comes into effect in late 2015. Dec. 5, 2017 - Australia, concerned about Chinese influence, announces a ban on foreign political donations to prevent external interference in its politics. Aug. 23, 2018 - Australia bans Huawei Technologies from supplying equipment for its planned 5G broadband network, citing national security regulations. April 2020 - Australia seeks support for an international inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. China's then ambassador to Australia says that in response to the call, the Chinese public would boycott Australian wine, beef and tourism. June 9, 2020 - China urges students going overseas to think carefully before choosing Australia, citing racist incidents, threatening a $27.5 billion market for educating foreign students. August 2020 - Australian citizen Cheng Lei, a business anchor for Chinese state television in Beijing, is detained. Nov 27, 2020 - China announces temporary anti-dumping tariffs on Australian wine. Shipments of Australian live lobsters, timber and barley are also blocked or restricted around this time. China's embassy lists 14 grievances with Australia, including the blocking of 10 Chinese investments on national security grounds. May 22, 2022 - Australia's Labor Party, led by Albanese, wins the general election ending almost a decade of conservative rule. Nov. 15, 2022 - Albanese meets Xi on the sidelines of the G20 in Indonesia. It is the first leaders' meeting since 2016. Jan. 3, 2023 - China allows three government-backed utilities and its top steelmaker to resume coal imports from Australia. Aug. 5, 2023 - China ends 80.5% tariffs on Australian barley. Oct. 11, 2023 - China releases Australian journalist Cheng Lei after three years in a Beijing prison on national security charges. Oct. 22, 2023 - China agrees to review dumping tariffs of 218% on Australian wine. Australia pauses WTO complaint. Nov. 6-7, 2023 - Visiting Beijing, Albanese tells Xi and Premier Li Qiang that a strong relationship between the two countries was "beneficial into the future". Xi says stable bilateral ties served each other's interests and both countries should expand their cooperation. Jan. 18, 2024 - Australia rejects comments by China's ambassador seeking to deflect blame from China's navy for the injury of Australian military divers in an incident near Japan in November. Feb. 5, 2024 - A Beijing court hands Australian writer Yang Hengjun a suspended death sentence, five years after he was first detained in China and three years after a closed-door trial on espionage charges. March 29, 2024 - China lifts tariffs on Australian wine, triggering a surge in imports. Dec. 3, 2024 - China lifts final restrictions on Australian beef. Dec. 12, 2024 - Australia strikes rugby league funding deal with Papua New Guinea that is contingent on its Pacific Islands neighbour rejecting security or policing ties with China. Dec. 26, 2024 - China resumes imports of Australian lobster. Feb. 21, 2025 - Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong raises concerns with Chinese counterpart over inadequate notice given by the Chinese navy of a live-fire exercise in international waters between Australia and New Zealand that forced airlines to divert flights. May 3, 2025 - Albanese's Labor government is re-elected for a second term in national elections.
