Huawei unveils new smartphone chips this fall as rivalry with Nvidia and Apple heats up

Tingbo He, president of Huawei semiconductor, presents at an industry conference in Shanghai on May 25, 2026. Huawei SHANGHAI — Chinese tech giant Huawei on Monday touted a new approach to developing advanced semiconductors despite U.S. sanctions, as Nvidia struggles to sell its high-end chips in China. Huawei said it developed a new engineering approach called "LogicFolding" to manufacture its Kirin smartphone chips this fall. That breakthrough comes as Nvidia faces U.S. export restrictions in China and Apple contends with renewed competition from Huawei in the world's second-largest consumer economy. Huawei's Mate 60 smartphone, launched in 2023, included 5G connectivity powered by an advanced chip that helped the company regain market share from Apple. While U.S. restrictions have kept Nvidia from selling its most advanced chips to China in recent years, Beijing has pushed to support homegrown technology instead. Last week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC the U.S. chipmaker had "conceded" the Chinese market to Huawei. "For Nvidia, this means the window to sell advanced chips such as the H200 into China is narrowing," said George Chen, partner and co-chair of digital practice at The Asia Group. "This trajectory will likely heighten concerns in Washington, where Huawei remains emblematic of U.S. export restrictions," he said. …