By David Kirton and Brenda Goh

SHENZHEN/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Huawei’s latest high-end phone features more features from Chinese suppliers, including a new flash memory chip and an improved chip processor, a teardown analysis showed, indicating China’s progress toward technological self-sufficiency.

Online repair company iFixit and consulting firm TechSearch International examined the inside of Huawei Technologies’ Pura 70 Pro for Reuters and found a NAND memory chip that they believe was likely packaged by the Chinese telecom equipment maker’s in-house chip unit HiSilicon, as well as several other components from Chinese suppliers.

These findings have not been reported previously.

Huawei’s re-emergence into the high-end smartphone market after four years of US sanctions is being closely watched by both competitors and US politicians, as it has become a symbol of growing trade tensions between the US and China and China’s quest for technological self-sufficiency.

The companies also noted that the Pura 70 phones run on an advanced processor chipset from Huawei called the Kirin 9010, which is likely just a slightly improved version of the Chinese-made advanced chip used in Huawei’s Mate 60 series.

“While we can’t give an exact percentage, we would say that the use of domestic components is high and definitely higher than the Mate 60,” said Shahram Mokhtari, lead teardown engineer at iFixit.

“This is about self-sufficiency. Everything you see when you open a smartphone and see everything that comes from Chinese manufacturers is about self-sufficiency,” Mokhtari said.

Huawei declined to comment.

Huawei launched the four Pura 70 smartphone models at the end of April and the series was quickly sold out. Analysts believe that Huawei will take further market share from iPhone manufacturer Apple. In Washington, politicians are questioning the effectiveness of the US restrictions on the telecommunications giant.

FLASH MEMORY CHIP MADE IN CHINA

Previous analysis of the Mate 60, launched in August last year, by teardown firms such as TechInsights found that the phone used DRAM and NAND memory chips from South Korean manufacturer SK Hynix. SK Hynix said at the time that it no longer had a business relationship with Huawei, and analysts said the chips likely came from inventory.

The Pura 70 still contains a DRAM chip from SK Hynix, iFixit and TechSearch have found, but the NAND flash memory chip was likely packaged by Huawei’s HiSilicon unit this time around and consisted of NAND chips with a capacity of 1 terabit each. This is comparable to products from major flash memory manufacturers such as SK Hynix, Kioxia and Micron.

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However, the companies could not clearly identify the manufacturer of the wafer because they were not familiar with the markings on the NAND chip, they added. However, iFixit added that they believe HiSilicon may have also manufactured the memory controller.

“During our disassembly, our chip ID expert identified it as a specific HiSilicon chip,” Mokhtari said.

SK Hynix reiterated that it has “strictly complied with the relevant policies since the announcement of the restrictions on Huawei and has since suspended all transactions with the company.”

INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS

IFixit and TechSearch’s analysis of the processor used in the Pura 70 Pro also suggests that Huawei may have only gradually improved its ability to manufacture advanced chips with Chinese partners in the months since the launch of the Mate 60 series.

The processor is similar to that used in the Mate 60 series, which was produced by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) in the Chinese chip foundry’s 7-nanometer (nm) N+2 manufacturing process for Huawei, it said.

“This is significant because news of the 9000S on a 7nm node caused a mild panic last year as U.S. lawmakers were faced with the possibility that sanctions imposed on Chinese chipmakers might not slow their technological progress after all,” iFixit said.

“The fact that the 9010 is still a 7nm process chip and that it is so close to the 9000S could indicate that Chinese chip production has indeed slowed down.”

However, he warned against underestimating Huawei, as it is expected that SMIC will make the leap to a 5nm manufacturing node before the end of the year.

SMIC did not respond to a request for comment.

(Additional reporting by Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)