Is Huawei’s new phone really ‘sanction defying’?

Despite a low-profile launch, Huawei has re-entered the high-end smartphone market with a bang. The company’s first major model since getting hit by Western sanctions apparently matches the networking performance of Apple and Samsung flagship phones, leaving Western media and policymakers wondering: how did the Chinese telecom giant manage to build such a device without access to the world’s most advanced semiconductor technology?

Huawei was the first major target of US trade bans. In 2019, the Trump administration, citing national security concerns, barred the company from using Android and several other US-origin technologies. The following year, the sanctions were expanded with a license requirement for all Huawei semiconductor suppliers that use software or technology of US origin. This, among other things, prevented TSMC from supplying advanced chips to Huawei without Washington’s approval, since the Taiwanese foundry procures manufacturing equipment in the US.