Huawei's new Mate 60 Pro phone drives Chinese chip stocks rally amid 5G speculation
Aug. 30, 2023 5:36 AM ET
Apple Inc. (AAPL), SSNLF, NVDA AMD, INTC, TSM
By: Ravikash, SA News Editor
5 Comments
 Kevin Frayer/Getty Images News
Chinese chip stocks rallied on Wednesday after a surprise launch of Huawei Technologies' new phone, Mate 60 Pro as investors speculated that it could be using a 5G capable chip.
On Tuesday, the company started selling its Mate 60 Pro for ?6999 (~$960) with little fanfare, having given no advance notice or conducted advertising.
Staff at Huawei and sales personnel at stores in Beijing and Shenzhen reportedly told news agency Reuters that they were caught off-guard.
The phone consists of features such as satellite calls without a ground network, but these calls need to be used with China Telecom related services, according to the company.
Huawei, however, did not provide information on the power of the chip inside.
Many users who were able to buy the phone posted videos and snapshots conducting tests that they said showed it could match the network speeds of 5G chipset, triggering speculation that Huawei had managed to achieve 5G capabilities, according to media reports.
The Chinese company once was in race with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung ( OTCPK:SSNLF) to be the world's biggest handset maker until U.S. restrictions, starting in 2019, began to curb its access to chip manufacturing tools needed for producing its most advanced models.
The company had been left only able to launch limited batches of 5G models using stockpiled chips. Last month, it was reported that Huawei was planning to return to the 5G smartphone industry by the end of 2023. Certain tech research firms had noted that Huawei should be able to get 5G chips locally using its own advances in semiconductor design tools, plus chip manufacturing from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company.
Chinese chip and tech companies saw their stocks jump on Wednesday. Lontium Semiconductor was up ~8%, Cambricon Technologies had risen ~10% and Anker Innovations Technology had climbed ~6%. Biwin Storage Technology was up ~12% and Guangdong Leadyo IC Testing had surged ~20% on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. |
