Sanctions did not prevent Huawei's powerful breakthrough

Huawei has achieved a fourth consecutive quarter of growth in profits. In the first three months of 2024, the company's profits reached 19.6 billion yuan ($2.7 billion), representing a 564% increase compared to the same period last year. Sales growth was also impressive, reaching 37% to 178.8 billion yuan. This has enabled Huawei to surpass Apple in sales in the Chinese market. It is always an honour to beat Apple, but in the case of Huawei, it is noteworthy that this was done by a company that has been under American sanctions for five years.
Apple's sales in China fell 19% in the first three months of this year, the worst performance since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020. Apple's share of the Chinese market fell from 19.7% to 15.7% in the first quarter.

In August 2023, Huawei released the Mate 60 Pro smartphone, the world's first smartphone with full support for satellite communications. Another distinctive feature is the Kirin 9000s chip, running on an ultra-modern 7-nanometer processor made by the Chinese company Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC). Both the smartphone itself and the ultra-modern processor are clear achievements of Huawei, which was included in the US “black” sanctions list back in 2019. It is believed that the fight against Huawei was the catalyst for the Americans to begin an undeclared technological war with China. The release of the Mate 60 Pro marked a significant milestone for Huawei, with sales of its smartphones in China growing by almost 70% year-on-year in the first quarter.
Huawei released its latest smartphone model, the Pura 70, in April. This smartphone is powered by the Kirin 9010 processor, the latest version of the Professor with 7 nanometers.

Despite Huawei's apparent successes, U.S. officials say their efforts to limit China's production of cutting-edge chips are having an impact. In the USA, there is a perception that the Kirin 9000s chips are not as advanced as those produced domestically. However, this view may be based on wishful thinking.
"Export controls are effective because this chip (Kirin 9000s) is significantly behind the times. It is years behind what we produce in the United States," US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told CBS' 60 Minutes last month. "We have the most complex and advanced microchips in the world, and China does not."

According to Bloomberg, the highly successful Mate 60 Pro smartphone is manufactured using technologies from American IT companies Applied Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp. Bloomberg reports that SMIC received these technologies before October 2022, when Washington banned American companies from supplying modern chips and equipment for their production to the Middle Kingdom.

Huawei, despite American sanctions, still receives modern equipment from US companies that have special permissions to cooperate with companies on the “black” list.