China’s Huawei Technologies has raised the ratio of domestic components in its new smartphones to nearly 60% by value, a new teardown shows, as the country continues to make strides in the production of central processing units and memory chips in the face of US export restrictions.
With the help of Japanese teardown specialist Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, Nikkei disassembled two Huawei high-end models, the Mate 70 Pro, released in 2024, and the Pura 80 Pro, released in 2025, and analyzed their component costs.
The procurement ratio by country or region was calculated based on the estimated total cost of the components, and the results were compared to models in previous years.
Huawei increased the proportion of Chinese-made components in the Mate 70 Pro to 57%. The estimated total component cost of the Pura 80 Pro is USD 380, with the Chinese-made component ratio steady at 57%.
For similarly priced Huawei smartphones released in 2020, the domestic component ratio was 19%, growing to 32% in 2023. The proportion of components from Japan, the US, and South Korea decreased by more than 20 combined percentage points from 2023 to 2024.
The starting point for the expansion of domestic parts procurement was US export restrictions. In 2019, President Donald Trump’s first administration effectively prohibited US companies involved in electronic components and software from doing business with Huawei, a move that was extended to companies outside the US in 2020.
Suddenly facing difficulties procuring parts, Huawei rapidly built a domestic supply chain. For the Pura 80 Pro’s system-on-a-chip, which integrates multiple semiconductors, the company used the Kirin 9020 chipset designed by subsidiary HiSilicon.
The Kirin 9020 is believed to have a seven-nanometer circuit width, the same level as Apple’s iPhone 11, which was released in 2019. The narrower the circuits, the greater the performance.
“There’s still a gap of more than five years,” said Akira Minamikawa, senior consulting director at research firm Omdia.
Satoru Oyama, head of Japanese semiconductor consulting company Grossberg, said that “Chinese companies have design capabilities, but they face challenges in mass production.”
The teardown showed in particular how much progress China has made in the domestic production of expensive components like semiconductor memory.
For DRAM, which handles short-term memory, Huawei switched from imported products to those made by ChangXin Memory Technologies. For long-term NAND flash memory, it switched to products made by Yangtze Memory Technologies.
Huawei switched to products from BOE Technology Group for the organic light-emitting diode display, which is estimated to cost over USD 64 per unit. “Key components are almost entirely Chinese produced, bringing the company close to complete homegrown production,” said Minatake Kashio, CEO of Fomalhaut.
Alibaba Group, a major driver of China’s technology development, is embarking on the in-house design of artificial intelligence chips that can serve as the brains of robots and vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities. Startup chipmakers like Moore Threads, founded by former Nvidia executives, and MetaX have had success raising funds by going public.
In chipmaking equipment, startups like SiCarrier are increasing their presence by covering the entire frontend process of forming circuits on chips. Naura Technology Group, which is expanding its business with a wide range of products, has a market capitalization exceeding that of Japan’s Disco.
Looking to foster talent in advanced technology fields, the Chinese government is attracting Chinese and foreign researchers with experience in other countries to leading domestic universities through research funding.
China’s semiconductor self-sufficiency rate reached 23.3% in 2023, up 8.4 percentage points in ten years, according to Canadian research firm TechInsights. “Components like semiconductors can also be used for military purposes,” Omdia’s Minamikawa said.
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.