Huawei has ordered more than 120 million chips from MediaTek.
It is a win-win move, as Huawei’s chip subsidiary HiSilicon may risk “finding nowhere to produce high-end chips,” so the Chinese firm has to diversify its chip supplies. It happens that MediaTek’s 5G chips are “not bad,” a Huawei follower surnamed Jiang told the Global Times Tuesday.
On the other hand, MediaTek will also stand out among competitors with orders from such a big customer as Huawei, Jiang said.
If the deal is true and assuming that Huawei could ship about 180 million mobile phones this year, MediaTek’s market share is more than two-thirds, far better than its US counterpart Qualcomm, media reports estimated.
The move also comes as Huawei has reached a deal with US chip firm Qualcomm to settle a patent dispute last week. Huawei will pay Qualcomm $1.8 billion for back royalties owed for 2019 and for the first six months of this year under the new global patent license agreement. The new deal also includes a cross license granting back rights to certain Huawei patents, covering sales beginning January 1, Qualcomm said.