In August 2019, Huawei introduced HarmonyOS Operating Syatem. The company's consumer chief Richard Yu said during the announcement that the operating system was designed to work on a variety of devices such as smartphones, smart speakers, automobiles, computers, smart-watches, and tablets. According to GizChina, HarmonyOS Operating System is running on more than 320 million handsets. This operating system is the third largest mobile OS in the world after Android (Google) and iOS (Apple) with an annual growth rate of 113%. Third-party installations of HarmonyOS are also on the rise with over 250 million units of products such as light bulbs, televisions, microwaves, and refrigerators using the software. Those installations are increasing at a rate of 212% on an annual basis. Huawei's own AppGallery app storefront is also growing rapidly and is now the third largest in the world after the Google Play Store and the App Store and serve more than 580 million monthly users.

U.S.A. is making sure that Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines cannot be imported by China. But MyDrivers says that Huawei has recently submitted an application for a patent covering some EUV components and the EUV lithography process. The application number is 202110524685X. EUV machine which is about the size of a school bus. Each EUV machine has over 100,000 components. Huawei's patent reportedly improves some issues inherent in the EUV process by featuring a more uniform light source. Dutch firm ASML, filed a similar patent in 2016. But both patents differ in the way light is used in the EUV. Additionally, Huawei is believed to be working on a way to "bypass" lithography by using optoelectronic wafers and other innovations. If the company can conme up with a way to bypass the lithography process, that would be the time for Samsung and Apple to start worrying.

If Huawei can patent its own EUV technology, China get closer to its goal of becoming self-sufficient in semiconductors. It would also allow Huawei to offer 5G as a native feature on its phones while equipping them with the most powerful and energy-efficient SoCs available

 

Author: Saikat Bhattacharya