Huawei is stepping up its investments in China's tech sector in the face of intense pressure from the United States, including increasing its stakes in semiconductors and other tech companies to bolster its supply chain.
Public records show that Hubble Technology Investments Ltd, which Huawei established in April 2019, has completed 17 stakes in Chinese tech companies since last August.
This investment arm was set up in response to US restrictions on Huawei, including the cutting off of many overseas chip supplies, which effectively prevented Huawei from making its own chips.
Guo Ping said, "Since Huawei is just one company, we use investment and technology to help our supply chain partners mature."
Huawei's investment efforts also coincide with the government's increased efforts to boost China's semiconductor industry. While these investments may help Huawei in the future, analysts say that so far they have done little to address the supply chain gap.
Netease Tech quoted one Chinese chip investor as saying: "It will take a long time to work, but Huawei doesn't have many good options, so it will have to turn to outward investment."
Most of Hubble's investments target chip-related Chinese startups, some of which are already part of Huawei's supply chain.
As an example, Vertilite, founded in 2015, which makes VCSEL sensors that support camera facial recognition technology, received an investment from Huawei this year.
However, many of the companies Huawei supports are in the early stages of development. For example, Wuxi-based SHOULDER Electronics, which makes radio-frequency filters that support wireless communications but have yet to achieve compatibility with advanced 5G phones, received an investment from Hubble in January.
3PEAK, which also received an investment from Hubble this year, makes analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) for use in wireless network base stations.
3PEAK's prospectus, released ahead of its IPO at the Star Market in Shanghai, shows that the U.S. company dominates this market segment, generating just 300 million yuan ($43.99 million) in revenue last year.
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